Molalla Log House research Chapter 7-8

1 Precontact Inhabitants of the Willamette Valley: Kalapuyan and Molalla Indians First Written Impressions by Europeans and Americans Generally, a clearer picture of land use is formed by determining why past human groups chose a particular location in the natural environment, by looking at the available resources in the area, and by examining the material remains left behind.1 Comprehending the geography and the landscape of the northwest coast of America and Oregon in the late 18th century gives insight into why settlers may have been drawn there to farm and colonize It is also important to consider the native cultures these settlers would have encountered in the region Archeologists, historians and scholars of native peoples in Oregon have provided documentation about what is known of pre-historic inhabitants With this background, and the first written notations of the white men who entered the Willamette Valley, we have some understanding of the native people encountered by early settlers Some of the men from the American Pacific Fur Company and the British-Canadian Northwest Company described in their journals what they saw in the first decade of the 19th century The original builders of the Molalla Log House in the late 18th century would most likely have experienced similar impressions They would have found a non aggressive local native population and excellent hunting grounds, in a landscape of rolling hills and grass prairies with stands of Douglas fir and Oregon white oak Quotations from some of the first white settlers in the Willamette Valley give an idea of their perceptions of the native people living there at the time Alexander Henry with the British Northwest Company described some of the Kalapuyans he encountered on the Willamette River in 1814, south of the Willamette Falls near Champoeg Henry related that the natives were in fear of the fur company men’s firearms and that they were not in possession of horses He stated that the natives to the east and south had horses and were a much more aggressive; at times hostile and murderous towards the Kalapuyans Although the south Molalla prairie is twenty five miles southeast of Champoeg, on the Willamette River, historians and archeologists have noted that bands of Ahantchuykuk, or Pudding River Kalapuyans, inhabited this area The fur company man, Alexander Henry, writes in his 1814 journal: Here I found Mr William Henry in charge of this place and Mr Letan (Seton) with 30 men and two huts of Freeman and Nepisangues as hunters, there of the Natives belonging to this quarter were at the House they are a called Calipuyowes, they appear to be a most wretched Tribe, diminutive in size and scarcely any covering, similar to those I met this morning in the Portage (of the McCulley Kelly, Cara, Archaeologist Detroit Ranger District, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, September 28, 1999 falls) This Tribe is exceedingly numerous extending up to the Head waters of the Willamette and are divided into several distinct Tribes, they are a wandering race who have neither Horses nor Homes, and live in the open air in fine weather and under the shelter of the large spreading Pines and Cedar during foul weather They have no Tents of their, own, indeed their country is well calculated for such roving Savage life as they lead their wants are but few Deer are numerous and roots of various kinds are in abundance, the latter constitutes their principal food.… … This afternoon three American freemen arrived from Mr Wallace’s house of last winter they have been off from here about three weeks, have but six traps and have killed upwards of eighty beaver… They complain much of the Natives being troublesome, stealing their property wherever they find it, they however yet greatly in dread of our fire arms, which causes them to act in a most clandestine manner and prevents them using open violence to pillage The natives along this river have but few horses themselves, indeed they are too wretchedly poor to have anything, but their neighbors from the eastward and south east are well provided with horses, and seem to be a nation who live well, provided with everything necessary for a savage life, they generally pay a visit to the River every Summer to hunt deer and occasionally murder the natives, they are always on horse back and are provided with bows and arrows and a spear on lance about feet iron shod, they are well dressed in leather shirts and leggings garnished with porcupine quills, they make use of much white clay and red ochre to daub and paint their faces, and their horse also are generally daubed over with these coulours Alexander Henry continued in his journal to describe his impressions of the Kalapuyan way of life: Some of the wretched Natives were here this afternoon they came to sell Com moss they are not allowed to enter our dwelling Houses and having no trading house built here, they are traded with out doors, they left us about dusk to return to their camp, they are generally in small parties of to families, and frequently during the rainy season they make huts covered with pine branches, their principal food is roots Although they are excessively fond of deer flesh, and prefer it to any articles of goods we have Their method of hunting the deer is rather singular, they provide themselves with a deer head and horns complete, which they put on and conceal their body, have a stick in their hand, which they occasionally rub the deer’s horns, and in imitation of a deer, the animal senses this and is decoyed near him, when he lets fly an arrow and seldom misses his aim The men wear caps on their heads made of deer heads (the skin) both men and women are dressed in same scanty robes as those we met in the Portage Another description of the Kalapuyans is by Alexander Ross, in his account written twenty years after he first came to the Willamette Valley in the spring of 1812 with a Pacific Fur Company party He believed that the natives in this area were apathetic and indolent and didn’t have to work hard because the land was so productive on its own … on a beaver-trading excursion, spent some months in that quarter, among the Col-lap-poh-yeaass These parties penetrated nearly to the source of the Wallamitte, a distance of five hundred miles It enters the Columbia by two channels, not far distant from each other; the most westerly is the main branch, and is distant from Cape Disappointment from eighty to ninety miles, following the course of the river Payette, B.C., editor, Oregon Country Under the Union Jack, Henry's Journal (Alexander), Clatsop County Historical Society Museum Archives, Astoria, 1962 and The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society Volume XXV, December 1924, Number 4,”Early Days on the Willamette” by Fred S Perrine Ibid The Wallamitte lies in the direction of south and north, and runs parallel with the seacoast; that is, its source lies south and its course north In ascending the river the surrounding country is most delightful, and the first barrier to be met with is about forty miles up from its mouth The natives are very numerous and well disposed; yet they are an indolent and sluggish race, and live exceedingly poor in a very rich country When our people were traveling there, the moment the report of a gun was heard forth came the natives; men, women, and children would follow the sound like a swarm of bees, and feast and gormandize on the offal of the game, like so many vultures round a dead carcass; yet every Indian has his quiver full of arrows, and few natives are more expert with the bow The names of the different tribes, beginning at the mouth of the river and taking them in succession as we ascend, may be ranged in the following order:— Wa-come-app, Naw-moo-it, Chilly-Chandize, Shook-any, Coupé, She-hees, Long-tongue-buff, La-malle, and Pee-you tribes; but as a great nation they are known under the general name of Col-lap-poh-yea-ass, and are governed by four principal chiefs The most eminent and powerful goes by the name of Key-ass-no The productiveness of their country is, probably, the chief cause of their extreme apathy and indolence; for it requires so little exertion to provide for their wants, that even that little is not attended to; they are honest and harmless, yet there is a singular mixture of simplicity and cunning about them The river, towards its head-waters, branches out into numerous little streams, which rise in the mountains… The beaver is abundant, and the party that went there to trade this year made handsome returns; but the Indians throughout are so notoriously lazy that they can hardly be prevailed upon to hunt or anything else that requires exertion Two primary Indian groups may have had permanent campsites in the south Molalla prairie area: Ahantchuykuk Kalapuyans and Molallas What is believed to be a Kalapuyan camp or village in this area was visited by two separate archeologists in recent years at the property owner’s request They both spent time on the site studying artifacts and suggesting further study The Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon wrote in a letter to the property owner: “Specifically the property has a high diversity of indigenous species and also a fairly substantial archeological site The site has not been evaluated but any action to support protection of this area is supported by the tribes.” They studied the landscape and numerous artifacts and believe that a group of the Ahantchuykuk, or Pudding River Kalapuyans, had a permanent seasonal camp on the small creek, which also feeds the Pudding River.7 This property is located within two miles to the northeast of the Rock Creek Site, where it is believed the Molalla Log House may have been built The persons who built the hewn log house in the late 1790s may have come to know these native peoples If Russian American Orthodox peasants, with perhaps an accompanying missionary, encountered these natives, they may have aspired to follow the pattern, which had already been established by fur traders in Siberia and Alaska, of converting and integrating with native peoples to enhance their population and workforce The Kalapuyan village site, near the Rock Creek Site, continues to yield many of the roots, berries and trees so useful to these early peoples for food, medicine and tools: camas root, tarweed, oak, cedar and yew Property owner Susan Hansen was told that the larger basalt stone bowls and grinding tools found on the site indicate a permanent gathering and processing area, as Ross, Alexander, Adventures of the First Settlers on The Oregon or Columbia River: Being A Narrative of the Expedition Fitted Out by John Jacob Astor, to Establish the "Pacific Fur Company:" With An Account of Some Indian Tribes on The Coast o The Pacific, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill, 1849 November 14, 2007, letter to Susan Hansen from Pat O’Grady, staff archeologist with the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, The State Museum of Archeology, University of Oregon Letter to property owner dated August 10, 2011 from Eirik Thorsgard, Cultural Protection Coordinator, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon Site visit and interview with Susan Hansen, Molalla, April 2010, by Gregg Olson and Pam Hayden opposed to a transient camp, and that the length of the Kalapuyan occupation there was thought to date back thousands of years Much more study is necessary to understand this site However, it is of interest to know that there were native people living very close to where the Molalla Log House was originally built The Kalapuyans made their mark on the landscape in the south Molalla prairie area by field burning This affected the natural ecology and environment, making it prairie like In 1825, the journal of David Douglas describes the Willamette Valley: Saturday 30th September 1825: Most parts of the country burned; only on little patches in the valleys and on the flats near the low hills that verdure is to be seen Some of the natives tell me it is done for the purpose of urging the deer to frequent parts, to feed, which they leave unburned, and of course they are easily killed Others say that it is done in order the better to find wild honey and grasshoppers, which both serve as articles of winter food (Davies 1980:94) Thursday October 5th: Camped on the side of a low woody stream in the center of a small plain - which like the whole of the country I have passed through, is burned" (Davies 1980: 96) "Prehistorically, the Willamette Valley's native peoples annually burned the valley floor to maintain a vegetative cover that provided food necessary for their diet This burning created in the valley large meadows interspersed with oak woodlands Dense forests developed only in the foothills and along streams and rivers, where cooler and moist conditions prevailed, limiting the effects of fire (Boag 1992: 1).”9 The Kalapuyans were described by the early fur traders as being very poor and without horses or firearms They may have been killed by small pox, an epidemic introduced by white men in the 1800s, when many of the Columbia River tribes were affected The area of the south Molalla prairie was also the home of the Molalla Indians, probably sometime after 1780 Some sources indicate that they did not make their home in the Molalla area until after the turn of the 19th century The Molallas were neighbors of the Cayuse It is believed that the aggressive Teninos forced them to migrate to the Willamette Valley from their homelands near the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, near the Warm Springs River The Northern Molalla Indians made their primary home near what is now Dickey Prairie along the east bank of the Molalla River and also claimed the bottomlands in the Willamette country as their hunting grounds, where the more peaceful Kalapuyans lived “Molallas split into two groups The southern or Lower, Molallas migrated around the headwaters of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers of southern Oregon The northern, or Upper, Molallas remained primarily in the Willamette watershed, west of Mt Hood in the Molalla River country and on the south in the Santiam River watershed The Molallas lived in mat houses in summer and in mud-covered semi subterranean houses in winter Both the Northern and Southern Molallas were loosely related to the Klamaths, who called them a name meaning “people of the service berry tract.”10 Little is known about the Molalla Indians What is known comes from historic accounts, early linguistic studies, notebooks and government correspondence, usually in association with Lee Gilson, archeologist, web site: “Pyroculture- Kalapuya and the Land: What did the Willamette Valley look like when the Indians lived there?” http://www.oregon-archaeology.com/theory/pyroculture/ Ibid 10 Ruby, Robert H and Brown, John A A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest, University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, pg 137 the Kalapuya, their neighbors.11 The Northern Molalla inhabited the west slopes of the Cascades in the upper drainage of the Molalla River near Mt Hood Wintering sites of the Molalla were known to be usually west of the Cascades, along streams in the lower elevations These areas are remote; therefore study has been more highly concentrated on the Kalapuya, living in the Willamette Valley The Molalla were known to be excellent hunters of wild game, particularly in the winter months They also picked berries and other plant food that could be harvested from the uplands of the Cascades They traded these and smoked meat for salmon at the Willamette Falls “Early observers had a hard time translating the name of the Indian tribe that inhabited eastern Clackamas and Marion counties into written English Joel Palmer called it "Pole Alley." Governor Joseph Lane wrote it "Mole Alley." The spelling finally settled upon for the river, town, and trail is Molalla.”12 Archeological evidence suggests that “Indian peoples traveled along the ridge tops and valley floors to access high elevation meadows, huckleberry fields and other important resources such as cedar groves and big game from lowland winter settlements….Dramatic population decline in the Molalla and neighboring groups took place with the influx of white contact The Bureau of American Ethnology estimates that the pre-contact number for the Molalla and Cayuse was 500 (Toepel 1987).” By 1851, only 58 members of the “Santiam Molalla” were listed as present during the signing of the unratified treaty by Crooked Finger, Qui-eck-e-te, and Yal-kus 13 The Klamath Trail was part of a vast network of trails It was used to travel to and from specific resources such as obsidian pits or fishing areas Goods and slaves were traded and transported along the trail system The first non-aboriginal or white people, to arrive in Oregon were the explorers, trappers, traders, and emigrant settlers They used the trail networks established by native peoples Some Indian trails were developed into wagon roads and remain today as rural roads and even highways Other Indian trails continue to exist as recreational hiking trails.14 The following map is of the Klamath Trail in the 19th Century.15 Note that the main branch of the Klamath Trail splits To the west, the trail splits again near present day Molalla The western branch leads northward to the Willamette Falls and the Columbia River The small eastern branch leads to a crossing on the Clackamas River, near Philip Foster’s Farm, 16 Eagle Creek This trail most likely continued eastward through the Mt Hood area The Barlow Road, built by Sam Barlow, Phillip Foster and others, followed an old Indian Trail Sam Barlow's road, originally called the Mount Hood Toll Road, began at what is now Third Street in The Dalles 17 11 McCulley Kelly, Cara, Archaeologist Detroit Ranger District, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, September 28, 1999 12 Munford, Kenneth The Molalla Trail originally published in the Horner Museum Tour Guide Series, 1979 http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/research/MolallaTrail.cfm 13 McCulley Kelly, Cara, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, 1999 14 Oregon Historic Trails Fund, http://www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org/trails/showtrail.php?id=10#sig 15 Ibid 16 Phillip Foster’s Farm (1840s DLC in Eagle Creek, Oregon) was a stop over for pioneers in the late 1840's They took the road Foster helped to build, the Barlow Road, as an alternative to the treacherous Columbia River route and stopped at his farm for a respite before their last leg into the Willamette Valley and a new life 17 Oregon Trails Association, The Dalles Oregon, http://www.octatrails.org/learn/people_places/articles_the_dalles.php Map of the Klamath Trail As seen on both maps included here, one branch of the Klamath Trail led northward to The Dalles from the east of the Cascades Western branches of the Klamath Trail crossed over the Cascades and into the territory of the Molalla Indians, who occupied the western Cascades from the upper Rogue River in the south to the upper Clackamas River in the north There are three recognized sub-groups of Molallas: the Southern Molalla, occupying areas west of Crater Lake, the Santiam Band, living in the upper regions of the North and Middle Santiam rivers, and the Northern Molalla, who were focused in the drainage of the Molalla River The Molalla and the Klamath intermarried, hunted together, traded, and were allies in war “A primary branch of the Klamath Trail over the Cascades was located in the region of the Santiam Pass and crossed into the slopes drained by the North Santiam River Here the Indian trail system merged with the Molalla Trail, a major north-south route that skirted the foothills of the eastern Willamette Valley from Oregon City to the distant region of the Southern Molalla From the North Santiam River, the Molalla Trail went north through the Waldo Hills, on to the villages of the northern Molalla, and then to the Willamette Falls trading mart.” 18 The following map 19 shows that the Klamath Trail was used as a trade route between Klamath Lakes in southern Oregon and the trading center at Celilo Falls (Dalles) on the Columbia River One branch of the trail crosses from the east over the Cascade Mountains to the western foothills of the Cascades into the Willamette Valley Then two trails split in the vicinity of Molalla: one headed westward to Oregon City and the Willamette Falls and one traversed northeast towards the Clackamas River Trails through the Molalla area during pre-historic times traveled from southern Oregon to the Willamette Falls and the Columbia River 18 19 Ibid End of Oregon Trail Interpretive Center web site, 2009 Map of Klamath Trail (yellow line) Barlow Road from Oregon City to the Dalles (green dotted line) In the late 1790s, Russian hunters and peasant farmers and craftsmen would have found the Willamette Valley accessible via overland trails and water routes They would have also found a prairie landscape conducive to growing crops The area, rich in natural resources and hunting grounds, was ideal for an agricultural colony, with non-aggressive natives nearby who could potentially be converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and enticed to join the settlers’ working community American and English Fur Companies, French Canadians and Freemen Trappers In Astoria and the Willamette Valley (1811-1845) Possible Occupants of Molalla Log House-Fox Granary The notion of Russian builders having constructed the Molalla Log House was not imagined by the authors until the winter of 2010, a year ago as of this writing.20 The initial dendrochronology, which began in the first months of 2010, yielded findings indicating that the log structure may have been built prior to 1820; perhaps as early as 1812 That the building might predate the pioneer and settlement era in Oregon history by at least 30 years was startling Nearly a year of research followed, to determine who might have been in the Willamette Valley at that early date with the motivation and capacity to create the cabin So began an extensive study of the fur companies and free trappers operating in the Pacific Northwest prior to 1846 Pacific Fur Company employees were studied extensively and a list of potential builders was made These men were French, British and Scottish Canadians as well as Americans, originally from the east coast including: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Kentucky Based on the craftsmanship and design of the building, the builder/s was thought to be of European influence Log building design was studied extensively worldwide and the nature and design of fur posts, forts and blockhouses were closely examined Could the Molalla Log House have been built by someone associated with one of these Fur Companies operating in the Willamette Valley between 1811 and 1845? Could it have been built in association with a trading post or wintering house for trappers? The term fort was applied indiscriminately to all fur trading establishments having any pretensions to permanency, whether a bastioned fortress of stone or wood, or a square stockade, palisade, or picketed enclosure consisting of poles or slabs, a block house of squared logs with apertures, or a house of round unhewn logs…or the little log cabin thrown up in the heart of a far distant wilderness by the aid of sharpened steel, as if by magic before the eyes of wondering savages, and stocked only with the articles necessary for temporary traffic…these were the fort, fortress, factory, post, house, establishment or head-quarters … In selecting a site for a fort, water and wood were first considered, then hunting or fishing.21 20 Dendrochronology work in late 2010 and 2011 yielded an earlier date of construction, than initial analysis had indicated which in turn focused study towards Russian American history However, the historic research conducted for the time period of 1811 – 1845 has proved useful in understanding the possible continuum of use of the Molalla Log House during that thirty-four year period 21 The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol XXVII, History of the Northwest Coast V I 1543-1800, San Francisco, A.L Bancroft and Comp., Publishers, 1884, Chapter XV “Forts and Fort Life”, pg 382 The Pacific Fur Company, Northwest Company, Hudson Bay Company and Willamette Valley Freemen were studied It is believed, and documented through primary sources and history books, that the first white men to reach the Willamette Valley were from John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company The men who came overland from Missouri in 1810-1811 and the men who came on Astor’s ship, the Tonquin, from New York and arrived on the Columbia in 1811, were individually examined Many of the men who first explored the Willamette Valley during the years of the Pacific Fur Company stayed and hunted, trapped and traded as freemen into the 1840s The early journals of some of these company men as well as an extensive literature search led to the identity of several individuals who may have lived part or full time in the Willamette Valley between 1814 and the 1840s Although some residents still living in the south Molalla prairie area speak about ‘hearing’ that trappers were in the area a long time ago, nothing concrete is known No written reference has been found about the Molalla area specifically as being a home to these free trappers A list of these men was compiled and, although they are not believed to be the builders of the Molalla Log House, it is possible that some of these men and their native wives and families could have occupied the log house, with no windows, for a period of time in the first half of the 19th century The geographic connection can be made between Champoeg, the site of the first Northwest Company post on the Willamette in 1814, the French Prairie, the Pudding River and Rock Creek in the south Molalla prairie Fur company men and freeman trappers were scouring the countryside and the plentiful creeks and streams of the Willamette River watershed for years, in search of beaver, elk, deer, bear and other land animals If an abandoned and well-built log house was found on the banks of Rock Creek, it would make sense it could easily have been found and used 22 Between 1811 and 1814, the Willamette Valley was a coveted resource for those worn out Pacific Fur Company men, who had spent endless months at sea on the Tonquin from New York, and for those who had come on the arduous overland journey of deprivation and starvation from Missouri.23 Supplies at Fort Astor were short and food was at a minimum Almost as soon as the Pacific Fur Company was established at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1811, parties were sent to the Willamette River for exploration Most surely they had been informed that the Willamette Valley was a ‘land of plenty.’ No doubt the Willamette Valley had been discussed pro and con, for on December 5, 1811, Robert Stuart, Francis Benj Pillet, and Donald McGillis, clerks, and a few of the men, accompanied by a guide, set out for the Willamette The Indians told them that the country abounded in beaver They were accompanied by a Canadian Freeman, Regis Brugiere, who came to the area to trap They portaged the Willamette Falls and paddled their canoes up river into the lower Willamette Valley By 1812 a post was established just north of Salem on the Willamette River, called the Wallace House During the winters of 1812-1813 and 1813-1814, hunters and fur company men were sent to the valley of the Willamette to sustain themselves hunting game The Willamette Valley had a reputation as a “gourmand’s delight” or a “veritable hunter’s paradise,” the opinion of Donald McKenzie, Pacific Fur Company head of the Willamette District, regarding the river valley in 1813: 22 Gregg Olson: “This was the best log house in Oregon at the time.” Franchere, Gabriel, Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast, 1811-1814; Reprint of J V Huntington's English translation 23 McKenzie’s enthusiasm for the region above the falls of the Willamette River was unrestrained The country, he is reported to have said, was 'delightful beyond expression.' The 'incredible' number of beaver which he found along the river was believed to exceed anything yet found on the entire continent; and he painted glowing pictures of rich prairies covered with innumerable herds of elk and of uplands teeming with deer and bear.24 Another example of how highly regarded the Willamette Valley was by members of the Pacific Fur Company, referring to the winter of 1813-1814, was expressed by Donald McDougall in his journal: M’Kenzie, with four hunters, and eight common men, would winter in the abundant country of Wollamut, from whence they might be enabled to furnish a constant supply of provisions to Astoria…The summer of 1812 passed away without any hostilities….it now became necessary to guard against other evils The season of scarcity arrived, which commences in October, and lasts until the end of January To provide for the support of the garrison, the shallop was employed to forage about the shores of the river A number of the men, also, under the command of some of the clerks, were sent to quarter themselves on the banks of the Wollamut, a fine river which disembogues itself into the Columbia, about sixty miles above Astoria The country bordering on the river is finely diversified with prairies and hills, and forests or oak, ash, maple and cedar It abounded, at the time, with elk and deer, and the streams were well stocked with beaver Here the party, after supplying their own wants, were enabled to pack up quantities of dried meat, and send it by canoes to Astoria 25 There are numerous references in literature about the Pacific Fur Company about the scarcity of food, men and the need to hunt and winter in the Willamette Valley because of its abundant game So long as we expected the return of the vessel, we had served out to the people a regular supply of bread: we found ourselves in consequence, very short of provisions, on the arrival of Mr M’Kenzie and his men This augmentation in the number of mouths to be fed compelled us to reduce the ration of each man to four ounces of flour and half a pound of dried fish per diem: and even to send a portion of the hands to pass the rest of the winter with Messrs Wallace and Halsey on the Willamet, where game was plenty.26 When two clerks of the Pacific Fur Company returned from the Willamette River in March of 1813, Gabriel Franchere wrote: Reed and Seton, who had led a part of our men to the post on the Willamet, to subsist them, returned to Astoria, with a supply of dried venison These gentlemen spoke to us in glowing terms of the country of the Willamet as charming, and abounding in beaver, elk, and deer; and informed us that Messrs Wallace and Halsey had constructed a dwelling and trading house, on a great prairie, about one hundred and fifty miles from the confluence of that river with the Columbia And then in April of 1813 Franchere wrote of another two company clerks: 24 Hussey, J.A., Champoeg: A Place of Transition, Oregon Historical Society in cooperation with Oregon State Highway Commission and the National Park Service, U.S Department of Interior, Portland, OR, 1967, pg 25 25 Jones, Robert F., Editor, Annals of Astoria, The Headquarters Log of the Pacific Fur Company on the Columbia River 1811- 1813, (Duncan McDougall’s Journal) 26 Franchere, Gabriel, Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast, 1811-1814; Reprint of J V Huntington's English translation 10 Wallace and Halsey returned from their winter quarters with seventeen packs of furs, and thirtytwo bales of dried venison The last article was received with a great deal of pleasure, as it would infallibly be needed for the journey we were about to undertake 27 The Willamette is spoken of mostly in terms of a place to quarter men during the lean winter months when Indians didn’t trade salmon and provisions were low due to lack of shipment supplies At first they sent men there to supply provisions to the men stationed at Astoria But then they found that too difficult, so they sent men to quarter there and feed themselves on the bounty of the land Winter months were considered to be October through March In the spring they returned and brought back to Astoria the bounty of the beaver furs they had trapped As described by Franchere in June 1813: About ten days previously, the brigade which had been quartered on the banks of the Wollamut, had arrived with numerous packs of beaver, the result of a few months’ sojourn on that river These were the first fruits of the enterprise, gathered by men as yet mere strangers in the land; but they were such as to give substantial grounds for sanguine anticipations of profit, when the country should be more completely explored, and the trade.28 John Astor's Pacific Fur Company at Fort Astoria was sold in 1813, in the midst of the War of 1812 with Britain, to the British Northwest Fur Company Some Astorians returned to the States while others became free agent trappers, “freemen,” or transferred their allegiance to the Northwest Company The implication in describing the glowing reports and feelings about the Willamette Valley is not to infer that the Pacific Fur Company built or even knew about the Molalla Log House on Rock Creek The log building was built at least ten years prior to their arrival there However, two of the proprietors of the Pacific Fur Company planned to winter or wintered in the Willamette Valley If the Molalla Log House were in existence at this time, these men may have used it If the building were used over time by hunters, trappers and traders, the most likely seasonal inhabitants would have been freemen, working independently or in small groups, or men traveling in larger brigades It could even have served as a camping site, or the building used for storage of furs and trading supplies windows would not be necessary Keeping the interior dry and secure would have been desirable The location of the Rock Creek Site was between two primary north south Indian trails.29 This would have been ideal for trade and overland travel and communication The area was easily accessible by canoe via the Molalla River or the Pudding River and Rock Creek and the area was bountiful in game, fish and beaver The following story about how the Pudding River got its name can be dated prior to the spring of 1814 It indicates that the hunters and trappers of the Pacific Fur Company and later the Northwest Company already knew the ‘lay of the land’ in this area of the Willamette Valley, including the Pudding River Rock Creek is a tributary of the Pudding River, which is a tributary of the Molalla which flows directly into the Willamette, several miles up stream from the Willamette Falls The Pudding River is also the river that flows through the French Prairie in the 27 Ibid Franchere, Gabriel, Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast, 1811-1814; Reprint of J V Huntington's English translation 29 The Molalla Trail that aligned with the ‘old mountain road’ which aligns similarly to Sawtell Road today, and the north south trail that aligned with current day Hwy 213 to the Willamette Falls, shown on maps from the 1850s and Clackamas County Survey records 28 11 Champoeg area The story can be dated by the account of Alexander Henry in 1814 Etienne Lucier and Joseph Gervais families were said to be camping on the Pudding River and killed an elk or deer Their Indian wives made a broth or stew from the blood of this game and called it ‘Blood Pudding.’ Thus, the Pudding River got its name Nor’wester Alexander Henry, who camped with members of the Pacific Fur Company the first winter after the Northwest Company purchased the American Pacific Fur Company, wrote in his Astoria Journal He described what he saw, when he ascended the Willamette River past the falls southward en route to the new Northwest Company post near Champoeg in early 1814 The Pudding River was called out specifically as a geographic place A house was already constructed on a ‘delightful open prairie’ for William Henry, the man heading this new Northwest Company post near present-day Champoeg Sunday – 23 At 11 o’clock we passed a small River on the left hand, called by our people Pudding River The current continues gently and smooth At two o’clock we perceived some wood Canoes laying along the River, on the left hand side at the foot of the Bank about 30 feet high, (east side) which was a winding path, we of course supposed our people to be built some where near this Spot (none of us knew where they were built) I went on shore ascended the Hill I pass through a wood for about 300 Paces, when Came to a delightful open Prairie, on which I perceived the House about 150 Paces before us, this plain is about miles long and ¼ mile broad, along the middle runs a rising ground from East to West, on which the House is situated.30 The men who wintered on the Willamette River in 1812-13, and again in 1813-14 and then those that stayed on as free trappers will be discussed briefly Many remained in the Willamette Valley as “freemen or “free trappers,” through the 1820s Some only trapped in the winters while working for the Northwest Company or Hudson Bay Company These men included: John Day, Alexander Carson, Etienne Lucier, Joseph Gervais, Joseph St Amant (Amand), Cannon (William Canning), Thomas McKay, Louis LaBonte, (Labonte), and Registre Bellaire "Joseph Gervais, Etienne Lucier, Louis LaBonte, William Cannon, Alexander Carson and Dubruy or Dubreuil formed a little company of comrades and became the first group of independent Oregon people." 31 These Americans and Canadians and others may have found and used the Molalla Log House on Rock Creek as winter quarters while hunting and trapping in the Willamette District These men were all, for a time, considered as potential builders of the Molalla Log House Now we understand that this was not possible because of dendrochronology But, there is still the likelihood that some of these men may have at one time shared the log building as winter quarters, as a store house or as a station for hunting and trapping There were numerous men who first worked for the Pacific Fur Company and subsequently were involved in the Northwest and Hudson Bay Companies, who free trapped in the Willamette Valley after 1813 They may or may not have come across the Molalla Log House while working for one of these companies or as freemen trappers Special attention was given the following individuals because they were known to have resided over a long period of time in the Willamette Valley: Etienne Lucier, Joseph Gervais, Joseph St Amant, Louis Labonte, Alexander Carson and William Cannon 32 30 Payette, B.C., editor, Oregon Country Under the Union Jack, Henry's Journal (Alexander Henry) Hussey, J.A Champoeg: A Place of Transition 32 List of Freemen working in Willamette Valley after 1813: The following men are listed in order of those most mentioned as living and working as freemen in the Willamette Valley after 1814 Many settled on the French Prairie in later years, but spent years hunting and trapping the watersheds of the Willamette River A short biography of 31 12 John Hussey, in his book, Champoeg, a Place in Transition, wrote about the Willamette Valley in 1826: Perhaps…a number of other free trappers and engages maintained transient hunting camps in the region…The situation as to pioneer settlement begins to become a bit clearer by 1826 It is obvious that by then several freemen had established more or less permanent homes in the region above the falls, perhaps not cultivating the soil but living by hunting, trapping, and herding horses During July of that year, for example, Chief Trader Peter Skene Ogden, crossing the Cascades from east to west, came to a location in the western foothills known as ‘Freemen’s Encampment.’ The place and name evidently were already well known And during that same year Etienne Lucier, a freeman, maintained a camp near many of the men known to have inhabited the Valley follows Special interest is given: Etienne Lucier, Joseph Gervais, Joseph St Amant, Louis LaBonte, Alexander Carson and William Cannon Etienne Lucier, French Canadian: He was born in the Montreal region of Lower Canada, Quebec, in 1793 He died in 1853 on the French Prairie In the summer of 1810, while at Michilimackinac, Michigan, Etienne engaged as a voyager with the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) and journeyed to Oregon with the overland party headed by Donald McKenzie and Wilson Price Hunt (1810-1812) At Fort Astor he was employed as a hunter and voyager When the Pacific Fur Company sold out, Lucier joined Joseph St Amant on an overland trip in April 1814 with the Northwest Company, but they returned to Fort George Etienne Lucier is listed on the roster as a “Freeman Hunter”, continuing to work for the British Canadian, Northwest Company Lucier had a native wife, Josette Nouette, and ‘half-blood’ children He sold skins to the Northwest Company and Hudson Bay Company, trapping in the winter in the Willamette Valley Lucier was described as “illiterate, humble, obedient, and capable of enduring grueling labor without complaint” In the 1820s, Etienne Lucier’s home was located on the east side of the Willamette River; in the Champoeg area and elsewhere He traded horses with the Indians east of the Cascades and he raised, corralled and supplied horses to brigades of hunters, trappers and traders working for the Hudson Bay Company The horses were taken from the Willamette via the Santiam pass and across the Cascades to supply the Snake Brigades Expeditions heading south and to California purchased horses from the Willamette area as well Some of the “Willamette Freemen” found employment with the Brigades sent by the Northwest Company to the Snake Country, Umpqua and Southern expeditions throughout the Willamette Valley In 1826 Etienne Lucier is believed to have settled on a semipermanent basis in one or more camps along the Willamette River For a time in the early 1830s he may have camped on his friend, Joseph Gervais’s property Where he and his family lived more permanently during this time is unknown In the late 1820s, Lucier was one of the "Willamette freemen," or independent trappers, working on contract for the HBC When not moving about the Willamette Valley or other parts of the Oregon Country, these freemen were often seasonal inhabitants of the mid-Willamette Valley, especially the territory of the Ahantchuyuk Kalapuyans who inhabited both the Molalla and French Prairies In the early 1830s, John McLoughlin loaned Lucier and other Willamette freemen farming equipment in hopes that they would show their loyalty to the Hudson Bay Company over any American maritime trading influences This was not to be, however, because in the 1840s, Lucier and his French Canadian friends for the most part, supported and voted for the creation of an American Provisional Government of Oregon By the early 1830s, Lucier and his family, as well as the French-Indian families of Joseph Gervais, Pierre Bellique, Jean Baptiste Desportes McKay, and Louis LaBonte were living and pursuing agricultural interests on the French Prairie Etienne was on the list of French Canadians as original land claimants in the vicinity of Champoeg in the early 1830s Joseph Gervais, French Canadian: Joseph was born in Maskinonge, Quebec, Canada (British North America at the time) along the St Lawrence River in 1777 He died in 1861 on the French Prairie He was a voyager (middleman in the canoe), mechanic and hunter Joseph worked as a Freeman in Willamette Valley, selling furs to the Northwest Company, then joined the Hudson Bay Company in the 1820s He was on the list of original French Canadian land claimants on French Prairie, settling there in 1828 Joseph was good friends with fellow French Canadians: Etienne Lucier and Louis LaBonte Joseph Gervais, William Cannon and Etienne Lucier came with Wilson Hunt party in 1812 overland Joseph St Amant (Amand), French Canadian: St Amant was listed as a gunsmith and hunter by the Pacific Fur Company One of the Proprietors of the Company, Donald McKenzie, described him as “one of our best men” In 1814-1815 he signed on as a “Freeman” under the Northwest Company at Fort George Amant hunted and trapped as a freeman in the Willamette Valley He was one of the men mentioned by Donald McKenzie as still being there in 1821 Louis LaBonte (Sr.), French Canadian: LaBonte was employed by the Pacific Fur Company as a carpenter and blacksmith On October 16, 1813 joined the Northwest Company Later he worked for the Hudson Bay Company He may have been a free trapper during the 13 Champoeg and was herding and selling horses Contemporary records leave no doubt that there were other such camps scattered up and down the valley at about the same time 33 No other references could be found relating to Hussey’s description of a “Freemen’s Encampment.” Oregon Historical Society Quarterlies and maps were researched for any reference to the passes or trails used by trappers and traders traveling east and west over the Cascades, particularly any that traversed in the vicinity of the Molalla Log House Two wellworn trails did traverse the area and a tertiary trail was noted leading directly into the Rock Creek Site on an 1852 survey map It is believed that the old Indian trail, sometimes called the Molalla Trail, that skirted the eastern side of the Willamette Valley and came southward through winter of 1813-1814 with his friends, in the Willamette Valley Gervais and LaBonte married sisters (daughters of Clatsop Chief) LaBonte is on the list of original French Canadian land claimants on the French Prairie in the vicinity of Champoeg, settling there about 1831 He was said to have known many languages including: Clatsop or Chinook, Tillamook, Tualatin and Calapooya, and the Spokane LaBonte moved to Gervais’ farm and helped raise wheat and build a barn Louis LaBonte’s opinion of the beaver in the Willamette Valley: “The Beaver here are of a very good quality, their clear pelt, though not scraped, and the Fur Long and Fine, and of a tolerable good colour dark, but none really Black.” Alexander Carson, American: Carson was born in 1775 or perhaps in either: Pennsylvania, North Carolina or Mississippi He was employed by the Pacific Fur Company as a gunsmith and hunter Alexander Carson was Kit Carson’s cousin and he was a good friend of John Day and William Cannon Alexander trapped the Snake River with John Day and was a free trapper in the Willamette Valley from 1814 to the 1830s He was a trapper, and spent much of his time in the Yamhill country He was a very independent man and was apparently shot by Indians on a butte on the North Yamhill River William Cannon, American: Born in 1755 in Pennsylvania or Virginia Cannon worked first for the Pacific Fur Company, then the Northwest Company and then the Hudson Bay Company He was employed as a hunter, millwright, blacksmith and gunsmith William is believed to have fought in the Revolutionary War at Yorktown, battle of King's Mountain in 1780 and at Cowpens in 1781 In 1810 Cannon was a soldier at one of the frontier outposts and was at Fort Mackinac, when Wilson Price Hunt lured him away to join the Overland Astorians in 1810 William stayed on with the Northwest Company and spent ten years with them, as employee in the summer and free trapper in the winter in the Willamette Valley In 1824, Cannon helped build Fort Vancouver, when it merged with the Hudson Bay Company He built the first gristmill at Fort Vancouver in the 1820s and became superintendent of the mills and the blacksmith shop Cannon retired from the Hudson Bay Company in 1836 and was appointed as a Justice of the Peace at Champoeg William was one of the men who voted to form Oregon's Provisional Government on May 2, 1843 Cannon died in 1854, at 99 years of age, and was buried by Bishop Francis Norbert Blanchet in the old cemetery at St Paul Oregon Registre Bellaire, French Canadian: “Freeman”, not associated with the Pacific Fur Company, formerly employed by the Northwest Company and arrived in Astoria October 1811 He was merchant turned trader and came to the Columbia River to trap for beaver He was one of the first to go explore the Willamette with Alexander McKay and Donald McGillis, of the Pacific Fur Company, in December 5, 1811 Bellaire traveled with John Day and Alexander Carson, both former employees of Astor's Pacific Fur Company, into the Willamette Valley in 1813 and 1814 The men worked as freemen trappers, hunting and trading for furs in the Willamette Valley Donald McKenzie mentions him as being on the Willamette in 1821 He was said to be with John Day, Etienne Lucier, and Joseph Gervais when they wintered on the Willamette in the winter of 1813-1814 Michel Laframboise, French Canadian: Born in Quebec in 1786 He was a voyager and interpreter He died on the French Prairie as per church records in St Paul in 1861 He worked for the Pacific Fur Company, the Northwest Company, and the Hudsons Bay Company He then became a farmer and ferry operator Probably due to his loyalties to the British companies through many years of employment, Michel was one of the few French Canadians who voted against the measure to form a provisional government in 1843 During his time Laframboise accompanied and led many expeditions to the south to Mexican owned California Occasionally, Laframboise led independent expeditions in to the Valley These brigades participated in the hostilities that developed with the natives, resulting in decades of killing, eventually leading to the Rogue River Wars in the 1850s Michel married Emile Picard in 1839, a Native American from the Umpqua region and the family settled on the French Prairie about 1841 By 1852 he had settled a Donation Land Claim north of his original property and was operating a ferry across the Willamette River to Champoeg, connecting to the ChampoegSalem Road Pierre Bellique, French Canadian: In 1818, he signed up with the British Northwest Company, and became an employee of the Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) in 1821 In the 1830s he and his wife Genevieve (Métis 14 present Lebanon, Brownsville, the Big Gap, and Coburg,34 could have been in a similar alignment to the ‘old mountain road’ which is Sawtell Road This road was in close proximity to Isaac Abel’s provisional land claim site which encompassed the Rock Creek site in 1846, and the trail shown on the 1852 survey map, entering the Rock Creek Site from the north east, may have connected to the old mountain road, or Molalla Trail Some of the old Indian trails were used by the fur hunters and trappers, then developed into wagon roads by settlers, and finally paved and used as highways today The Indian trails that traversed the Molalla area, near the possible original location of the Molalla Log House, came from many directions; some accessed the Klamath Trail on the east side of the Cascades, through the Santiam Pass Peter Skene Ogden’s brigade could have traveled these trails to what he described as a “Freemen’s Encampment.” origin), used the vacated Willamette Post (established in December 1813 by the NWCompany) , which was a tworoom log cabin, also known as Fort Kalapuya, which served as a site for trading with the local Indians, the Kalapuyans It was also a depot for hunting expeditions providing food to Fort George The post was still intact in the late 1820s, as French-Indian families began to settle in the French Prairie, Champoeg area He farmed for 15 years, and then left for the California Gold Rush in 1848 and died at sea on his return in 1849 In 1813-1814, when it became evident that Astor’s company would be sold, many men wintered in the Willamette Valley and some planned to stay as free trappers Other ‘expatriated’ Pacific Fur Company men who were associated with the Willamette are listed below Their mention is not as significant as those above because they not appear to have spent as much time in the Willamette Valley as the above mentioned But, they were freemen at one time and they did trap in the Willamette Valley Their possible use of a Molalla Log House-Fox Granary on Rock Creek can not be eliminated Francois Martial, French Canadian: He may have stayed on as freeman on the Willamette after 1814 Dubruy or Dubreuil Registre Bruguier, Iroquois: Registre arrived in Astoria on October 5, 1811 as a ‘mountain freeman’ He was a former Saskatchewan trader from a respectable Montreal Iroquois family who lost his outfit and was hired on by the Pacific Fur Company as a hunter It is believed he took a French name so as not to be discriminated against in the Fur Companies for being of Indian heritage Some Iroquois also took English names Thomas McKay, Scottish Canadian – Metis: Born in 1797 or 98, Thomas was a mixed race and worked as a clerk and interpreter He died in Oregon in 1849 Thomas McKay, as a young man, joined the Pacific Fur Company with his father, Alexander McKay, who subsequently died in 1811 on the Tonquin McKay stayed in the Willamette Valley after the Pacific Fur Company sold out to the Northwest Company In December of 1813 he is mentioned in the journal of Northwest Company clerk, William Henry: “Saturday December 25 (1813) – Christmas –Bellaire and Thomas McKay arrive from the Willamette River Two canoes arrived from above, one from the Willamette River and the other from Oak Point, they bring only three sturgeons, no extraordinary news from the Willamette Our hunters there lately killed 17 Red Deer.” Thomas McKay was Dr John McLoughlin’s stepson Sometime after Alexander McKay died, Thomas’s mother (Metis) married McLoughlin Thomas McKay was involved in the expeditions of Willamette Valley, Fraser River Valley, the Umpqua, Klamath Country and Snake River Valley, all in the Columbia District He led a hunting brigade in the winter of 1818-19 south towards the sources of the Willamette River This group, including Iroquois hunters, killed 14 Indians in a battle on the Upper Umpqua River The party retreated back to Fort George, but Louis LaBonte, Joseph Gervais, Etienne Lucier, Louis Kanota, and Louis Pichette dit DuPre stayed to hunt in the Willamette Valley throughout 1819 The five free trappers were not bonded employees of the fur company McKay settled on a farm on Scappoose Creek across the Willamette Slough, or Multnomah, from Sauvie’s Island in the 1830s Louis Kanota, perhaps Iroquois: Louis may have been a freeman with the Northwest Company and Hudson Bay Company He and Alexander Carson traveled with Peter Skene Ogden in 1828-29 in expeditions to southern Oregon, Nevada and the Snake River John Day, American: John Day was born in 1771 in Culpeper Co., Virginia (same place John Wilhoit’s family was from), then traveled west through Kentucky and to Spanish Upper Louisiana (now Missouri) by 1797 In late 1810, at age 39, he was engaged as a hunter for the Pacific Fur Company's Overland Expedition (sometimes called the Hunt Party or Astor Expedition), traveling west from Missouri to Fort Astoria in 1811-1812 He was also considered an excellent woodsman John Day worked as a free trapper along the Willamette in the winter of 1813-14 together with Registre Bellaire, William Cannon and Alexander Carson After the Pacific Fur Company sold, he spent the next eight years hunting and trapping mainly in the Willamette Valley and what is now southern Idaho John Day worked as a freeman in the Willamette Valley and on the Snake River under Donald McKenzie for NW Company Day died in 1820 from ‘hard living’ at age 49 Moses Flanagan, American: He was listed as a bookbinder, working for the Pacific Fur Company The name Flanagan is amongst those listed on original land records on the French Prairie It is unknown if this name 15 The Gibbs-Starling 1851 sketch map of the Willamette Valley shows the "Supposed course of the Molalla Trail to the Klamet from Foster's on the Clackamas River to MacKenzie's River."35 Note the trail that skirts the western boundary of the Cascade Mountains on the right side of the map which crosses the Clackamas River towards Phillip Foster’s Place on the Barlow Road, Oregon Trail The Molalla Trail may have become the ‘old Mountain Road,’ which had a similar alignment to Sawtell and Wilhoit Roads today Another trail, to the left, has a similar alignment of present day Hwy 213.36 This was the primary south north trail from California and southern Oregon to the trading mart at the Willamette Falls Both of these trails appear to touch upon Rock Creek, one of the tributaries of the Pudding River The Rock Creek Site is centrally located between these early trail networks Foster's was on Philip Foster's provisional land claim on Eagle Creek, which he acquired in 1843 He helped build the Barlow Road, which was used by Oregon Trail pioneers coming into the Willamette Valley On the west side of the Cascades, the Barlow Road, like the present Mt Hood Loop Highway, came down the canyon of the Sandy River to the present city of Sandy The Barlow route then crossed over low hills to the Clackamas River to Foster's on Eagle Creek and followed the Clackamas to the Willamette Travelers, especially those on foot or horseback, who did not want to go to the Falls of the Willamette at Oregon City but wanted to enter the Willamette Valley farther south, followed the old Molalla Indian trail from Eagle Creek, passing the present sites of Estacada, Colton, Molalla, Scotts Mills, and Silverton.37 Another Indian pass used by fur trappers, called the Minto Pass,38 ran through the Cascade Mountains and came into the Willamette Valley via the Table Rock Wilderness area, then down ‘the Abiqua.’ The Abiqua Creek is a tributary of the Pudding River, south of Rock Creek The Table Rock Wilderness area is the source of the Molalla River Another Indian trail ran east west through the Cascade Mountains along the Santiam Pass and into the Willamette Valley This was used by individual trappers and traders as well as the larger trapping parties or brigades in the 1820s The trail was developed into the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mt Military Road and later into the Santiam Hwy Peter Skene Ogden, Hudson Bay Company, described the return of one of the brigades in his Journal entry on July 1826: “Returned to Ft Vancouver from Snake Country via Willamette, having crossed Central Oregon from east to west and the Cascade Range of Mts by one of the middle passes, probably that at the head of the Santiam River “39 “Fosters” (Eagle Creek) “Old Molalla Trail to the Klamath” reference is related to this man HeRock worked as aSite free trapper after 1814 in the Willamette Valley and later may have Creek moved to San Francisco Richard Milligan, American: Richard was listed as a tailor by the Pacific Fur Company The name Milligan is amongst those listed on original land records on the French Prairie It is unknown if this name reference is related to this man He worked as a free trapper after 1814 for an unknown time, in the Willamette Valley Micajah Baker, American: “Free”, never associated with P.F Co - Blacksmith - (engaged with Northwest Company on the Willamette 1813) Baker name shows up in early land records French Prairie 33 Hussey, John A., Champoeg, a Place in Transition, pg 44 34 Munford, Kenneth, The McKenzie River Trails, Originally published in the Horner Museum Tour Guide Series, 1981 35 Mumford, Kenneth, The Molalla Trail, (Originally published in the Horner Museum Tour Guide Series, 1979) 36 Clackamas County Survey Records, Oregon City, Oregon 37 Munford, Kenneth The Molalla Trail Originally published in the Horner Museum Tour Guide Series, 1979 http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/research/MolallaTrail.cfm 38 Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, Vol 4, pg 242 39 Journals of Peter Skene Ogden ,Oregon Historical Society 16 Gibbs-Starling 1851 sketch map of the Willamette Valley Herbert Bancroft references two east – west passes over the Cascade Mountains, entering the Willamette Valley: the “Willamette River Pass,” at latitude 43 degrees, which led from the head of the Willamette Valley near Eugene, along the upper Willamette River south-west into the Cascade Mountains, and the “Mackenzie Fork,” which furnishes a similar road and passes in latitude 44 degrees leading east to the Metolius branch of the Deschutes River.40 Either of these routes could have been used by brigades of trappers and traders to access the Willamette Valley from the east to the site of the “Freemen’s Encampment” in the western foothills of the Cascades “Routes of Hudson Bay Company trappers guided by former Indian trails, appear to have been followed in the main by the road makers of more recent date.”41 After 1814, relations with the natives in the Willamette Valley began to wane These fur company and freemen trappers and hunters were making an impact on the Indian hunting 40 Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol XXVII, History of the Northwest Coast V I 1543-1800, San Francisco, A.L Bancroft and Comp., Publishers, 1884 41 Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol XXVII, History of the Northwest Coast V I 1543-1800, San Francisco, A.L Bancroft and Comp., Publishers, 1884 17 grounds in the Willamette Valley A delegation of Walla Wallas, Cayuse, and others came to Fort Astoria to request trade and at the same time, Nez Perce and Cayuse delegates warned Astorians to stay out of Willamette Valley hunting grounds Some native tribes began demanding tribute for passing through their lands and for hunting on their grounds Alexander Ross in The Fur Hunters of the Far West, stated that by 1816: “The Indians were very troublesome and several battles with them occurred along the Willamette,” and in describing a skirmish, said that: ”By the disasters of this trip every avenue was for the present shut up against our hunters in the Wallamitte.”42 It is assumed that by 1816 some of the freemen trappers hunting in the Willamette Valley may have left or eased their activities for a while due to Indian trouble Some of the freemen that stayed and trapped in the Willamette Valley were mentioned by Donald McKenzie when he returned there in 1821 He wrote to his old boss at the Pacific Fur Company, William Price Hunt: “Some of the former hands [those who went on the expedition with McKenzie in 1812 in the Willamette Valley] are in the country still For instance: St Amand, Alexander Carson, William Cannon, Etienne Lucier and Joseph Gervais are trapping in the river Walamet as usual.”43 The freemen trapping for the Northwest Company between the years 1814 and the early 1820s had a fortunate business partnership Many were not ‘bonded’ to a company and had the freedom to hunt, trap and trade for long periods of time in the Willamette Valley They may have brought their peltries to the post on the Willamette near Champoeg or taken them to Fort George on the Columbia While many only wintered on the Willamette and worked at Company headquarters for the rest of the year, others spent their entire lives roaming and trapping the countryside for furs If and where they may have had a base-camp or a wintering camp is unknown The Kalapuyan Indians of the Willamette Valley also increased the success and ability of these freemen to trap early on, without the encumbrances of being a Company employee Where in some areas the Indians were ‘hired’ by the traders to hunt and trap furs for them, this was not the case in the Willamette Valley The traders had to their own work and thus it changed the way they did business Instead of establishing trading posts throughout the Willamette Valley and tributaries throughout the state, as was the case in Canada and states such as Minnesota, these traders had an established home base (Fort George and then Fort Vancouver) They bought peltries and furs from freemen trappers in the Willamette Valley as well as sending larger brigades out on long hunting expeditions with horses in later years By the early 1820s, things changed The fur bearing animals were becoming ‘trapped out,’ and by the 1830s, the price of furs fell The freemen hunters in this part of the Valley were aging and the Hudson Bay Company bought out the Northwest Company In the 1820s the Hudson Bay Company sent brigades out on horseback to the Umpqua and Rogue Rivers in southern Oregon and to California, as well as eastward to Idaho and Utah These brigades required travel out of the Willamette Valley Some of these freemen, who had trapped in the Willamette Valley for years, joined some of these brigades Others stayed in the Valley, perhaps too old or with waned interest in traveling By the 1820s, the Molalla Log House could have been a home base for one or more of these free trappers or could have been the home of a mixed race family, fathered by a trapper 42 Ross, Alexander, Kenneth Spaulding editor, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman Oklahoma, 1956 43 Mackenzie, Cecil W., Donald Mackenzie, King of the Northwest: the Story of an International Hero of the Oregon Country and the Red River Settlement at Lower Fort Garry (Winnipeg), 1937, Stewart Publishing & Printing, Ontario Canada, 2001 18 By the 1830s, John McLoughlin enabled some of his retired French Canadian employees, some whom had worked for all three fur companies on the Columbia, as well as free trapping in the Willamette Valley, to settle and farm on lands on the French Prairie At this time these men, with their native wives and families, including Etienne Lucier, Louis Labonte and Joseph Gervais amongst others, abandoned the nomadic lifestyle of hunting and trapping in the foothills of the Cascades and in the creeks and tributaries of the Willamette River The French Prairie offered prime farm land and a community of their own If the log building had been used by these independent trappers and hunters through the teens and twenties of the 19th century, it, along with their nomadic life style, was abandoned for agricultural pursuits In the early 1830s there was a severe epidemic, possibly malaria, which struck the native population along the Columbia River and villages along its tributaries It is speculated that nearly 70% of that native population perished This would include the Ahantchuyuks, the Pudding River watershed tribe of the Kalapuyans, who, it is believed, occupied a village less than a mile and a half, as the crow flies, from the Rock Creek Site, the possible original site of the building It also would have struck the Molalla Indians living along the Molalla River in the Dickey Prairie area When Captain Nathaniel J Wyeth made his expeditions to the Oregon Country between 1831 and 1836, he traversed the countryside noting fur posts The Wallace House, built by the Pacific Fur Company the winter of 1812 was noted, but a hewn log building on Rock Creek was absent from note What Wyeth recorded was a region with fish, fur, lumber, minerals, water, and farming potential If free trappers or freemen in the 1930s were using the log building and Rock creek Site as an encampment, Wyeth might have made mention of it But, once the freemen retired to the French Prairie, this isolated log house may have been occupied by an Indian woman and her mixed race children.44 Could perhaps an Indian wife of a deceased fur trapper have lived there and thus the legend of the “old Indian woman’ that Bernard Mautz told, actually have been true? The possibilities of the heritage of an “old Indian woman” are also intriguing: Clatsop, Iroquois, Molalla or Kalapuyan? These “freemen,” many of whom had worked for all three fur companies operating in the Willamette Valley between 1811 and the 1830s, were no longer considered as potential builders of the Molalla Log House once dendrochronology pointed to a date in the late 1790s But one or more may have inhabited the building, with perhaps an Indian wife, and maintained the roof over the duration of 40 years, until the Provisional Land Claim of Isaac Abel in 1846 that claimed the Rock Creek Site 44 Bernard Mautz, son of the owner of the Rock Creek Site at the time, was told by an ‘old timer’ in the 1930s, that a log house had been located on his property, lived in by an ‘old Indian woman.’ A windowless shelter would not have been out of the norm for this culture 19 20 ... Willamette Valley (1811-1845) Possible Occupants of Molalla Log House- Fox Granary The notion of Russian builders having constructed the Molalla Log House was not imagined by the authors until the... the Molalla Log House on Rock Creek as winter quarters while hunting and trapping in the Willamette District These men were all, for a time, considered as potential builders of the Molalla Log House. .. northeast of the Rock Creek Site, where it is believed the Molalla Log House may have been built The persons who built the hewn log house in the late 1790s may have come to know these native