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# 2020-03-01 - Prehistory and History of the Rogue River National | |
# Forest by Jeffrey M. LaLande | |
# Prehistory and History of the Rogue River National Forest by | |
# Jeffrey M. LaLande | |
# Chapter 1, Introduction | |
The cultural heritage of the National Forest belongs to all of us. | |
Any scientific research or preservation efforts which are conducted | |
at cultural sites should be of eventual benefit to the general | |
public. As one aspect of the Rogue River National Forest's cultural | |
management program, the Overview is intended to be available to and | |
used by all of those persons who share an interest in the people and | |
places, the cultural events and patterns of southwestern Oregon and | |
northwestern California. | |
These chapter divisions are based on previous reports which | |
originally where developed as cultural resource input for each of the | |
Forest's former Land Management Planning Units--the North Siskiyou, | |
the Ashland, the McLoughlin, and the Upper Rogue. | |
Each of the units possesses a distinct environmental setting and thus | |
forms a logical construct in which to treat prehistory and history. | |
# Chapter 2, North Siskiyou cultural resource unit | |
## Physical setting | |
The North Siskiyou Unit is composed of deeply-dissected terrain; an | |
elevation gain of over 4,000 feet within a horizontal distance of | |
four to five miles is not uncommon. | |
Historic transportation routes skirted the North Siskiyou Unit on all | |
sides, avoiding the barrier of the Siskiyou crest. Three three | |
adjacent population centers (i.e., the Illinois Valley, the Applegate | |
Valley, the Indian Creek-Happy Camp area on the Klamath River) have | |
undergone relatively intense development. ... Although some contact | |
between adjacent valleys has taken place within and through the Unit, | |
its character as a physical barrier has helped maintain the separate | |
cultural and economic identities of the three adjoining settlement | |
areas. | |
## Prehistoric period | |
By late prehistoric times, the North Siskiyou Unit probably was being | |
utilized by four major native groups: Karok, Shasta, River (or | |
Lowland) Takelma and Dakubetede (the Applegate Athapascans). | |
That portion of the Takelma Indians who are relevant to the North | |
Siskiyou Unit lived along the Bogus River in the vicinity of Grants | |
Pass and in the Illinois Valley. They called themselves Dagelman; | |
i.e., "those living alongside the river" (Sapir 1907a:1). | |
Takelma referred to the Illinois Valley as Dalsalsan (meaning | |
unknown, Sappir 1907a:2). | |
The ethnic boundaries within the upper drainage of the Applegate | |
River are less clear. The Takelma called it S'bink, or Beaver River | |
(Sapir 1907a:1). | |
The salmon fisheries of the major rivers provided a food resource | |
that could be preserved and stored for year-round consumption. | |
Hunting and the gathering of edible plants were also important. | |
Semi-permanent villages composed of plant- or bark-walled houses were | |
established along the rivers, and a characteristic cultural pattern | |
developed. | |
Major ceremonies were also spiritual in nature, however. The rituals | |
included a "first salmon" ceremony, an acorn harvest celebration, and | |
the white deerskin dance. In all of them the idea of "renewal or | |
reestablishing of the world for another round of seasons was | |
extremely strong" (Kroeber 1925:102 and 105). | |
The Karok, being adjacent to the lower Klamath River core area, | |
possessed the most elaborate culture of the four groups. | |
The prehistoric inhabitants probably gathered several kinds of edible | |
plants within the Unit. The list includes four varieties of acorns; | |
hazel, pine and chinquapin nuts; manzanita and madrone berries; | |
blackberries, serviceberries, gooseberries and currants, as well as | |
several kinds of edible bulbs. [camas, wild onion] | |
Cedar and pine were used as house-building materials. In addition, | |
the native groups utilized a number of other plants for tools and | |
containers. Branches of the mountain mahogany tree served as digging | |
sticks. Mock orange branches provided arrow shafts, and bows were | |
made from yew wood. Rope for snares was manufactured from iris | |
fibers (Holt 1946:303). Baskets were woven using ponderosa pine | |
rootlets, hazel, willow, beargrass, maidenhair fern and other plants | |
(Dixon 1907:309, Sapir 1907a:258). | |
Tobacco was the area's only cultivated plant. Ethnographies of all | |
local groups report its use. Indians sowed the seeds prior to the | |
fall rains within oak groves that previously had been purposely set | |
afire. Tobacco patches were apparently associated with semi-private | |
ownership of acorn-gathering sites (Harrington 1932:63-64 and 75-76). | |
Generally, the Shasta were on unfriendly terms with the Takelma and | |
Dakubetede (Dixon 1907:887); the Takelma term for the Shasta meant | |
"enemies" (Kroeber 1925:387). On the other hand, it apparently was | |
not uncommon for members of these same groups to intermarry (Sapir | |
1907a: 12). | |
Certain locations within the North Siskiyou Unit probably were imbued | |
with spiritual significance. The prehistoric occupants believed in | |
powerful nature spirits. These numerous beings dwelt in specific | |
rocks, trees and mountains (Sapir 1907b:34). The Shasta spoke of an | |
important spirit that inhabited a mountain beyond the Applegate River | |
"towards Grants Pass"...and who brought rain and lightning" (Holt | |
1945:331). This may be a reference to Grayback Mountain--the most | |
prominent peak (elevation 7,055 feet above sea level) to the | |
northwest when viewed from the summit of the Siskiyous in Shasta | |
territory. The prevailing summer winds in this region come from the | |
northwest and they often bring intense electrical storms. To the | |
hunter/gatherers camped along the Siskiyou crest to the southeast, | |
Grayback Mountain would have seemed the likely origin of these | |
oftentimes terrifying natural events. | |
Adolescent boys had some simple rituals for acquiring luck or | |
spiritual guidance in life. A young Shasta would go in solitude to a | |
certain "rocky point," usually on a stormy, late winter evening. He | |
piled stones (to attract a spirit?) and then sat perfectly still | |
throughout the night. During this spirit quest, strange sounds might | |
be heard. If the boy became frightened and looked around, he | |
supposedly would become a lifelong coward. | |
Shamans (often women) possessed magical powers through their special | |
relationships with one or more spirits: | |
The method of securing the guardianship of these spirits was the same | |
as that so commonly employed in the Columbia Valley [Plateau] for the | |
acquisition of a "personal totem," or "protector," i.e., the | |
intending shaman would undergo a suitable term of training, generally | |
consisting of fasting and praying in the mountains; during this | |
period one or more spirits would appear in a dream and make their | |
guardianship known by the bestowal of a medicine song (Sapir | |
1907b:41). | |
They are mentioned as low, circular stone walls or rock cairns, | |
placed on or near prominent natural landmarks. A study of rock-lined | |
"prayer seats" (Yurok) found in the Six Rivers National Forest | |
describes them as: | |
...strictly a backcountry feature invariably... located on peaks, | |
ridges and large rock outcrops high above the river villages... other | |
essential attributes apparently included an unrestricted view and a | |
unique geological landscape with high aesthetic content (Wylie | |
1976:4). | |
## Historic period | |
Ogden's entry for the 20th of February 1827 reads: | |
Late last evening I was pleased to see... the absent men make their | |
appearance... but their success has not been so great as we all | |
anticipated, being only 73 beavers and 9 otters. The report they | |
give of the country and natives as follows... The latter [Karok?] | |
most numerous and most friendly, their villages built in the manner | |
as the Indians of the Coast with ceodar [sic] planks, sufficiently | |
large to contain from 20 to 30 families and, on everywhere it was | |
possible to reach the [Klamath] river did they see villages... | |
The Unit remained virtually unknown and totally unsettled by whites | |
until the mid-nineteenth century. At this time, the gold rush | |
brought a sudden influx of men in search of quick wealth. | |
The early miners had a tremendous impact on the region. They | |
explored the drainages of the North Siskiyou Unit, sowed the seeds of | |
permanent settlement along its fringes, and brought about the | |
destruction of the area's native cultures. | |
The winter of 1852-53 was known as the "starving time" throughout the | |
Siskiyou Mountains. By then, the area was overpopulated in relation | |
to the available food supply and many miners had to abandon their | |
claims (Walling 1884:448). | |
As the newcomers continued to arrive and settle, the usual problems | |
with the original occupants arose. The story followed the familiar | |
plot: greed and suspicion led to mutual contempt--followed by | |
isolated hostilities, and then open warfare. | |
Takelma and Dakubetede to the north put up a stubborn resistance to | |
white encroachment. Chief John, headman of the Applegate | |
Athapascans, led not more than fifty warriors against the whites. | |
The area's earliest historian noted this small band's "courage, | |
strategy and indomitable perseverance" (Walling 1884:190). | |
Full-scale war erupted throughout the region in 1855. | |
The conflict ended in 1856 and most of the surviving Takelma and | |
Dakubetede were removed to a reservation on the north Oregon coast. | |
The Shasta, as well as the Karok (who apparently were not deeply | |
involved in the hostilities), were allowed to remain in scattered | |
villages or "rancherias." Some of them gravitated to the growing | |
mining settlements and worked at menial jobs. Due to the lack of | |
white women in the early years, a number of miners along the middle | |
Klamath River took Indian wives (Siskiyou County Historical Society | |
1966:23, 1967:30). Removal, economic absorption, intermarriage: the | |
results were identical--rapid destruction of the native culture. | |
The region's initial mining boom had ebbed by 1870. | |
In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, the pine- and fir | |
covered mountains of the Unit still were viewed as a "forest | |
primeval". | |
The wildlife resources of the region were mentioned as abundant. | |
The popularity of the area for big game hunting led to the presence | |
of professional hunters. They often were viewed as unwanted | |
interlopers by local people... | |
Although racial prejudice was certainly present in the region, it | |
probably was no more virulent than the attitude found in most other | |
sections of the nation. The values of the Anglo-Americans who | |
settled in the Klamath and Rogue River drainages were similar to | |
those of people living in most rural areas of the eastern United | |
States--local miners and settlers merely had a more obvious target | |
(i.e., economic competitors of a different race) at which to direct | |
these feelings. | |
A large segment of the population of southwestern Oregon-northwestern | |
California developed an outlook which could be characterized as | |
insular, independent and consciously individualistic. This was | |
especially true in the North Siskiyou Unit and other remote | |
hinterland areas. | |
Various "secessionist" schemes have occurred sporadically since | |
early, mining days (Sutton 1965:1-3); their main purpose has been to | |
focus attention on the area's need for economic development. (The | |
"State of Jefferson" movement of the 1940s was not the first such | |
proposal and it may not be the last.) | |
World War I also stimulated initial development of the Unit's chrome | |
deposits. A chromite mine at the forks of Seiad Creek was worked by | |
Dr. J. F. Reddy, one of the original Blue Ledge claimants. During | |
the War "several thousand tons of hand-sorted chromite" were shipped | |
(California State Mineralogist 1935:268). Strings of pack mules also | |
were used to transport the ore taken from the Cynthia Chrome Mine on | |
Whisky Ridge. (Ramp 1961:147). | |
The North Siskiyou Unit's second mining boom (especially the | |
hydraulic activity) may have led to some long-term damage to the | |
physical environment. | |
The fishery resource of those streams was apparently not given | |
consideration. There are stories from the turn of the century that | |
tell of the huge spawning runs in the Applegate River. ... but the | |
river's anadromous fish population steadily declined after about 1900 | |
(Port 1945:5). This was probably due, at least in part, to the | |
destruction of spawning beds during the period of extensive hydraulic | |
mining. | |
This period saw the first significant use of the Unit's timber | |
resource. The mines needed lumber for support timbers and flumes as | |
well as the buildings which housed work crews and equipment. | |
Around 1900 a new wave of settlers homesteaded many areas within what | |
are now the National Forests of southwest Oregon-northwest | |
California. Many of these people entered claims with the intention | |
of gaining ownership over valuable timber land, although some of | |
these "forest homesteads" were bonafide agricultural claims. The | |
North Siskiyou Unit was little affected by the latter-day land rush. | |
Its timber resources were still inaccessible and, thus, not | |
considered to be economically valuable. | |
As had happened previously, the second mining boom proved to be | |
fairly short-lived. High-paying gravels were exhausted and major ore | |
bodies became too expensive to exploit. Most of the large mines | |
ended operations by 1920. The mining communities became "ghost | |
towns" almost overnight. | |
While most economic and social expansion was temporary, the period | |
did result in the development of several important roads... | |
The mountains became something of a refuge for a small number of | |
individuals. These were men who had chosen, for whatever reasons, to | |
live in isolation. "Eccentrics", legal fugitives and hermits could | |
be found living in some of the more remote canyons. | |
The creation of the National Forests ushered a new era into the | |
Siskiyou Mountains. The Forest Service concentrated on protection | |
and gradual, orderly development of the area's resources. | |
The California portion of the North Siskiyou Unit came under Forest | |
Service jurisdiction in 1905 when President Theodore Roosevelt | |
created the Klamath Forest Reserve. The land within Oregon was added | |
to the Siskiyou and Ashland Forest (extension) Reserves in March 1907 | |
(Crater NF 1908:map). | |
In 1913 the Forest Service described the amount of grazing in the | |
Unit as "limited, for only certain areas are suitable for forage" | |
(Brown 1960:123). However, during World War I beef production | |
soared. As a result, the size of cattle herds grew far beyond the | |
Unit's carrying capacity (Whitney 1944:1). By 1917, most of the | |
meadows along the Siskiyou crest were "badly depleted" and in need of | |
reseeding (Brown 1960:190 and 196). Following the war, the number of | |
cattle permitted in the area was reduced and range restoration | |
projects were begun (Whitney 1944:1, Brown, 1960). | |
Although the early-day Forest Service emphasized fire protection, the | |
Unit's inaccessible timber resources would not become marketable for | |
several decades. Exotic species were introduced on an experimental | |
basis when Austrian and Scotch pine were seeded on a burn near the | |
Oregon Caves (Siskiyou NF 1911:10). Eastern hardwoods (i.e., | |
shagbark hickory, pignut hickory and black walnut) were planted by | |
the Forest Service in 1909 at a test nursery on Thompson Creek | |
(Applegate drainage). The agency hoped that these species might | |
adapt to the area and provide wood for a local furniture | |
manufacturing industry (Burns 1911:17). | |
Aside from local hunters and fishermen, there was little recreational | |
use of the North Siskiyou Unit during the early Forest Service period. | |
During the 1920, the only intensively used recreation site along the | |
Siskiyou crest was adjacent to the Unit at the Oregon Caves. The | |
Caves had been proclaimed a National Monument and placed under Forest | |
Service jurisdiction. The agency was responsible for much of the | |
site's early development including completion of an auto road from | |
Cave Junction (1921), construction of a resort hotel (1927) and | |
various improvements within the cavern itself. The Forest Service | |
role at the Caves ended in 1933 when the administration of all | |
National Monuments was transferred to the National Park Service | |
(Walsh and Hallitdar 1976). | |
The Civilian Conservation Corps disbanded soon after the outbreak of | |
World War II. Mining of non-strategic minerals was halted by the War | |
Productions Board. However, the real changes in resource development | |
came during the post-war era. Several factors were involved. High | |
market demand for timber financed the construction of many miles of | |
new road. Advances in logging technologies (e.g., lightweight | |
chainsaws, heavy-duty trucks and cable-suspension logging systems) | |
enabled timber harvesting in areas that previously had been | |
considered unprofitable. | |
In 1942 the War Productions Board requested construction of a | |
ten-mile road to the head of Seiad Creek. The route would make | |
accessible several chromite deposits (Kubli claim, Seiad Valley mine) | |
and the Black Jack graphite mine (located on the south slope of the | |
Red Buttes). The Klamath National Forest supervised the 40-man | |
project (Klamath NF 1942:unidentified newspaper clipping). This was | |
the first (and still, essentially, the only) road in the North | |
Siskiyou Unit to reach and cross the summit of the Siskiyou crest. | |
Despite Forest Service efforts to insure them a stable timber supply | |
from the Unit (Scherer 1952:3-4), most small local sawmills were | |
being phased out. As in other areas, the profitable mills moved to | |
locations on the main railroad and highway systems. Successful | |
operations consolidated and diversified, enabling a mill to draw from | |
a larger timbershed and to produce a wider range of wood products. | |
By 1970 much of the North Siskiyou Unit had come under some form, of | |
timber management. The shelterwood harvest method replaced | |
clearcutting on most slopes, and timber-financed roads penetrated to | |
the higher elevation true-fir forests. | |
Better access has resulted in more recreation use. The rapid | |
population growth in nearby valleys (especially the Medford-Ashland | |
area) has placed a growing user-pressure on the Unit. The area's | |
remoteness, so long a barrier to development, now is viewed as a | |
valuable resource in its own right. | |
# Chapter 3, Ashland cultural resource unit | |
## Physical setting | |
Past human settlement and use patterns have been constrained by the | |
Unit's rugged topography. A large portion of the known habitation | |
sites within the Unit seem to have been located either on the level | |
terraces adjacent to the larger streams or at the relatively level, | |
forested margins of the high meadows. While the Ashland Cultural | |
Resource Unit probably has been subjected to the least intense | |
occupation of any area in the National Forest, most people have | |
preferred to maintain permanent residence in the lower valleys to the | |
north and east--utilizing the Unit's resources on a seasonal basis. | |
A major north-south travel route, used since prehistoric times, | |
developed across the summit of the mountains, just east of the | |
Ashland Cultural Resource Unit. | |
## Prehistoric period | |
By late prehistoric times, three major native groups utilized the | |
Unit: Shasta, River Takelma and Dakubetede. The Upland Takelma | |
(Latgawa) also may have used the area intermittently. | |
The Shasta term for the Bear Creek Valley was Ikiruk ("back behind," | |
probably in reference to its position "behind" the Siskiyou crest | |
from the Klamath River), and both Curtis (1924:106) and Holt | |
(1946:301) refer to the northern Shasta group as the Ikirukatsu. | |
Dixon (1907:451) also mentions a Shasta band, the Ikirakutsu, as | |
living "south of the Rogue River." According to Dixon, the Shasta | |
referred to Bear Creek itself as Ussoho, to Jackson Creek as | |
Ikwahawa, and to the Applegate River as Itskatawayeki (Dixon l907:pl. | |
LIX). The fact that the Shasta had specific names for these | |
features may indicate that Shasta groups lived in relative close | |
proximity to them at some time or another. | |
The River Takelma (Dagelma), most of whose winter villages were | |
located along the Rogue River below Bear Creek Valley, supposedly | |
included much of the Applegate River drainage within their | |
territorial claims (Sapir 1907:1). They are said to have called the | |
surrounding Siskiyou Mountains Asawentadis (Sapir 1909, cited in Card | |
1966:appendix). | |
The Dakubetede were a small, isolated band of Athapascan speakers who | |
inhabited the Applegate Valley (Sapir 1907a:2), in the general | |
vicinity of present-day Ruch. The Upland Takelma (Latgawa) were | |
centered in the lower Bear Creek Valley (Sapir 1907a:1, Spier | |
1927:364) around present-day Jacksonville and the Table Rocks. | |
An unusual set of beliefs of the Applegate and Galice Creek | |
Athapascans involved their emphasis on wolves as "friends and allies | |
of men." | |
Most River Takelma villages were located along the Rogue River. One | |
of these, Dilomi, was located at the rapids near Rock Point, just | |
west of present-day Gold Hill (Sapir 1907a:4). From this place, the | |
Takelma may have trekked south across the range of foothills and into | |
the Applegate Valley. Another sizable habitation site (probably | |
Shasta) was located on lower Ashland Creek, in the vicinity of | |
Ashland's present town plaza (Walling 1884:334, O'Rarra 1971:5). | |
There are references to at least two major villages (Dakubetede or | |
Shasta?) on the Little Applegate River. One of these was located | |
along the lower section of that stream near its outlet into the main | |
river. During the early 1850s, this village extended "as far back | |
[upstream] as the eye could see;" it contained many wooden racks "set | |
up for the drying of salmon" (Port 1945:4-5). Most of this site | |
apparently has been obliterated by Chinese hydraulic operations | |
during the 1870s-1880s. The second site, described as a "big Indian | |
camp," was on Yale Creek near its confluence with the Little | |
Applegate River (Port 1945:6). | |
An early historian of the region states that "... on the Rogue River | |
the fish were speared by torchlight, in a manner similar to that in | |
use in Canada and the far north." He goes on to describe how trout | |
were taken "from small streams by beating the water with brush, | |
whereby the fish were driven into confined spans and dipped out" | |
(Walling 1884:180). | |
The Shasta developed a limited concept of "private property" which | |
was applied to favorite fishing, hunting and acorn-gathering areas: | |
There was some development of private ownership of fishing and | |
hunting grounds, both of which were inherited on the male line... A | |
man usually hunted in about the same territory... During his | |
lifetime anyone could hunt there, but upon his death his parents | |
actively resented anyone hunting there for five years... private | |
property [was applied] to oak trees [to a slight extent]... the | |
tree[s] near the cabin of a particular family was considered as | |
belonging to that family, who would resent it if someone else came | |
and picked there first (Holt 1946:316). | |
The Shasta of the Rogue River drainage are described specifically as | |
having burned grassy slopes in order to kill and gather quantities of | |
grasshoppers (Holt 1946:309). | |
Shastans interviewed by Dixon emphatically denied using stone bowl | |
mortars, yet these are commonly found within their territory; | |
The feeling of the Shasta in regard to these mortars is a very strong | |
one. They are considered very mysterious objects and are never | |
touched except by shamans, and if one is found or seen at any place, | |
it is given wide berth (Dixon 1907:393). | |
Bowl mortars evidently were replaced by hoppered basket mortars in | |
fairly recent times. The Shasta obtained salt from a mineral deposit | |
at the head of Horse Creek, within the present boundaries of the | |
Klamath National Forest (Holt 1946:308). | |
The winter houses built by the various ethnographic groups were | |
similar: a rectangular structure erected over an excavated floor, | |
with walls and a two-pitch roof supported by peeled poles (cf. Sapir | |
1907a, Dixon 1907). The walls and roof of the Shasta and River | |
Takelma dwellings were covered with vertical planks of pine or cedar; | |
the Upland Takelma used slabs of bark; while the Dakubetede covered | |
their shelters with woven mats (Drucker 1936:283-284 and 295). | |
Like many of the Indian groups in this area, the Shasta were a | |
"sedentary, stay-at-home people and rarely made long journeys": | |
On hunting trips the men often went 15 or 20 miles, but had to be | |
careful lest they infringed on the territory of some other village or | |
tribe. Well-beaten trails connected the various villages (Dixon | |
1907:436). | |
The Takelma placed "direct offerings of food and other valuables" at | |
the natural feature with which a given spirit was connected (Sapir | |
1907b:34). One such place was a grove of pines atop Aldank-olo-ida, | |
an unidentified mountain in the vicinity of Jacksonville (Sapir | |
1907b:45). The Shasta also possessed a pantheon of sometimes | |
malevolent spirits (Axaiki, or "pains"). One of these, called "wild | |
pigeon," lived in a rocky cliff at the head of Horse Creek (on the | |
south side of the Siskiyou Crest). This being was very important in | |
curing illnesses, especially those caused by Karok shamans (Holt | |
1946:331 and 336). Takelma shamans fasted and prayed in the solitude | |
of the mountains (Sapir 1907b:42). | |
The Takelma believed Mount Ashland to be the physical transformation | |
of Daldal, a "cultural hero"... | |
Traveling east up Rogue River, (Daldal) overcomes and transforms the | |
wicked beings that threaten continued harm to mankind, sets precedent | |
for the life of Indians and after his work transforms himself into | |
[Mt. Ashland] (Sapir 1090:34, see also Card 1967:46). | |
## Historic period | |
... trappers supposedly christened the snowbound pass "the Siskiyou" | |
(a Cree Indian word) in honor of a bob-tailed horse which did not | |
survive the trip (Dillon 1975:175, McArthur 1974:672-673). | |
The Applegate Trail (the Southern Emigrant Road established in 1846) | |
did not enter the Applegate River drainage at any point--using | |
instead the well-beaten H.B.C. trail which passed outside of the | |
eastern margin of the Unit. | |
Jacob Wagner, a wheat farmer and miller, located his Donation Land | |
Claim on the creek that now bears his name (at the present site of | |
Talent) in 1851 (Walling 1884:507). Other settlers followed suit | |
(e.g., Beeson, Rockfellow, Anderson), and soon the small but fertile | |
valley of Wagner Creek was dotted with farms. The early Wagner Creek | |
settlement apparently contained a large percentage of freethinkers, | |
agnostics and other persons who did not fit into the mainstream of | |
contemporary religious and social beliefs. Some of the local | |
inhabitants formed an organization called the United Men of Liberty | |
and built a small meeting place, the United Mental Liberty Hall, on | |
Wagner Creek. Sometimes referred to as "Infidel Hall by more | |
conventional residents, the place was open "to all who wanted to | |
talk." There, many different subjects were discussed and each | |
speaker first had to agree to answer the questions and rebut the | |
arguments of an oftentimes skeptical audience (Atwood 1976:15 and | |
111). | |
This led local people to label the mine with the customary term for a | |
prospect which did not live up to its expected promise: "Steamboat" | |
(McArthur 1974:695). | |
In 1868 a cinnabar deposit was discovered on the Little Applegate | |
River, above the mouth of Glade Creek. Three years later a Mr. | |
Mullin hired a Chinese crew to build a crude retort furnace and work | |
the mine. They used the retort to "cook" the cinnabar and recover | |
the quicksilver. "For a period [Mullin] succeeded": | |
...in supplying the local demand of the placer miners, but the escape | |
of mercurial fumes from his rudely constructed furnace soon | |
[sickened] his men and the project was abandoned (Brooks 1963:93). | |
The Siskiyou Summit proved to be the last major barrier to | |
construction of a railroad connecting the lower Columbia River with | |
the San Francisco Bay area. In December 1887 the Southern Pacific | |
Railroad completed its line between Oregon and California--linking | |
the entire perimeter of the nation in a continuous loop of railroad | |
transportation. | |
With the rapid increase in Jackson County's population which followed | |
completion of the railroad, the Ashland Cultural Resource Unit began | |
to support many more permanent residents. | |
Although metallic ores continued to be the main object of search by | |
prospectors, a marble deposit near Seattle Bar was placed under | |
mining claim in the early 1900s. To the east, in the upper Neil | |
Creek drainage, a large deposit of high quality granite was quarried. | |
Frank Fish, an experienced granite cutter from Barre, Vermont, | |
discovered the monument-grade stone in 1900 while on a hunting trip. | |
The deposit was worked intermittently by the Penniston family of | |
Ashland until Walter M. Blair, one of Fish's acquaintances from | |
Vermont, purchased 120 acres in 1916. The so-called Ashland Granite | |
was used in the Portland City Hall, the Salem post office building | |
and the dome of the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, and it | |
became a popular material for gravestones. Although Ashland billed | |
itself as the "Granite City," and Blair undertook a good deal of | |
development (e.g., electric quarry hoist, saw sheds, polishing | |
machines, etc.), the combination of poor sales practices and the | |
economic depression of the 1930s ultimately led to the quarry's | |
closure (Ashland, Granite Company 1922: 9-16, Ashland Tidings | |
1901-1922: various issues, Oregon State Department of Geology | |
1943:22-23). | |
In addition, sometime around 1920 the Medford Livery Company released | |
its horses in the Upper Applegate area. Streetcars and automobiles | |
had ended the animals' usefulness, and they were turned out to die. | |
Instead, they bred rapidly and soon became known as the "Wild Horses | |
of the Applegate." Ranging in the Elliott Creek Ridge country, the | |
feral horses began "raiding haystack and pastures, kicking calves to | |
death, knocking down fences and ruining summer range" (Medford Mail | |
Tribune 23 November 1947:clipping). | |
In the late 1930s local stockmen began war on the horses, with the | |
population decreasing from over 100 in 1941 to about five in 1946 | |
(Medford Mail Tribune 8 June 1947:clipping). This remnant band was | |
sighted occasionally until 1950. | |
Game protection laws were enacted, but not soon enough to prevent the | |
virtual disappearance of elk from the area. It was front page news | |
when a large bull elk wandered down into Ashland's Lithia Park and | |
was promptly shot (Ashland Daily Tidings 3 December 1924:1). | |
Probably the most significant (and definitely the most heavily | |
promoted) recreation use occurred in the timbered hills near Ashland. | |
After 1900 the town made a partially successful attempt to become a | |
major West Coast health resort. Several mineral springs were located | |
nearby, and the mountain scenery immediately south of town provided | |
another attraction. | |
By 1910 Jackson County had entered a period of phenomenal economic | |
expansion. Much of the boom was associated with the development of | |
the pear orchard industry in the Bear Creek Valley--the old Donation | |
Land Claims were subdivided into tracts of newly-planted orchard and | |
many new homes were built. | |
As early as 1888 the Ashland Electric Power and Light Company built a | |
primitive hydroelectric plant within what is now upper Lithia Park. | |
The Siskiyou Electric Power Company purchased the operation in 1904, | |
and it then was replaced by a municipally-owned 300 kilowatt power | |
plant built farther up Ashland Creek in 1908 (Taylor 1965:1-5, | |
Wickham 1978:5). | |
# Chapter 4, McLoughlin cultural resource unit | |
## Physical setting | |
All of the McLoughlin Cultural Resource Unit drains west to the Rogue | |
River, with the exception of a small portion on the eastern slope of | |
Mount McLoughlin where a few intermittent streams flow into the | |
Klamath River system. | |
In a definite contrast to the southern section, the watersheds of the | |
Middle Fork and south fork of the Rogue River contain much less | |
evidence of cultural use. ... Very few prehistoric sites are recorded | |
for this area. | |
## Prehistoric period | |
At least two, and possibly four, major Indian groups were present in | |
the McLoughlin cultural Resource Unit by late prehistoric times: the | |
Upland Takelma and the Klamath, and perhaps, the Shasta and the | |
Southern Molala. | |
The Southern Molala (discussed in the next chapter) had a winter | |
village located near Prospect, Oregon (Spier 1930:4) and, therefore, | |
they probably ranged into the northwestern portion of the Unit on a | |
seasonal basis. | |
Most Upland Takelma (or Latgawa) villages evidently were located | |
along the Rogue River from around Gold Hill to above the mouth of Big | |
Butte Creek. Although this aboriginal group utilized the fishery | |
resource of the Rogue as available, the Upland Takelma economy was | |
based primarily upon hunting and gathering (see Sapir 1907a, Drucker | |
1936). | |
The salmon seem to have been of poor quality, rather badly battered | |
by the time they had made their way up the river... Some had become | |
so decrepit they could be seized and tossed on the bank with bare | |
hands (Drucker 1936:296). | |
The relative unimportance of fishing in the Upland Takelma | |
subsistence system may have been partially due to the down-river | |
groups' high rate of exploitation of the anadromous fish runs. | |
Deer meat and acorns were probably the staples of their diet. | |
Several neighboring groups (such as the River Takelma and the | |
Klamath) described the Upland Takelma as warlike... | |
The Klamath Indians (who referred to themselves as Maklaks composed | |
the other major native group which inhabited (or otherwise used the | |
resources of) the Unit. The Klamath spoke a language that had strong | |
similarities to that of the Sahaptin groups (e.g., Cayuse) who lived | |
on the middle portion of the Columbia River drainage (see Gatschet | |
1890). | |
Fish as well as wokas seeds (yellow water lily) were the most | |
important foods of the Klamath (see Coville 1902), | |
The Kowa'cdikni ("Agency lake group") and the Gu'mbotkni ("Pelican | |
Bay group") were the two divisions most likely to have utilized the | |
Unit. | |
The Klamath were affected far less by the lower Klamath River and | |
coastal culture patterns than were the groups who lived west of the | |
Cascade Range. Instead, the Klamath had strong links to the Columbia | |
Plateau Culture Area to the north and northeast (Spier 1930:229-231). | |
The Plateau Culture influenced many areas of Klamath, from the | |
stitched buckskin clothing to house styles (i.e., a circular, | |
semi-subterranean earth-covered lodge). The Klamath were in direct | |
contact with the mid-Columbia Indians at the Dalles, a great trading | |
center for the whole Plateau area. There the Klamath exchanged | |
slaves and wokas seeds for horses and buffalo hides, as well as | |
blankets, beads and other items made available through contact with | |
white traders (Spier and Sapir n.d.:224k quoted in: Follansbee and | |
Pollock 1978:60). | |
... the Klamath customarily cremated their dead while the Takelma did | |
not. | |
In addition, the Professional Analysts crew recorded a group of | |
petroglyphs which were discovered on the north slope of Mount | |
McLoughlin by a group of hikers. (This is the only petroglyph site | |
currently known for the Rogue River National Forest.) | |
The Williams petroglyph site is composed of four symbols carved into | |
the surface of a large basalt boulder. The site is located near | |
timberline on Mount McLoughlin, in a small basin which contains a | |
shallow snowmelt pond. One of the petroplyph symbols is a stylized | |
"sunburst". This is virtually identical to the design carved on | |
several stone and bone artifacts collected by Earl Moore at other | |
sites in the upper Rogue River area (see Moore 1977). | |
While the Klamath certainly utilized the game resources of the Unit, | |
they were "not much given to hunting." | |
Unlike groups to the west, the Klamath did not grow tobacco | |
(Nicotiana see Spier 1930). | |
Spier's informants spoke of a natural obsidian source at a "mountain | |
west of Klamath Lake" (Spier 1930:32). However, the Klamath | |
considered this particular obsidian to be "poisonous" and did not | |
utilize it; the story of the deposit's existence might have been | |
derived from a mythological context. According to several local | |
"rock hounds" no obsidian is known to occur naturally in the Cascades | |
between Crater Lake and the Klamath River (D. Smith, V. Strong, D. | |
Hoover; personal communication). | |
The Klamath term for the Upland Takelma, Walumskni, meant | |
"enemy"--see Spier 1930:4. Despite their mutual hostility, the | |
Upland Takelma sometimes sold slaves to the Klamath (Sapir 1907a:22, | |
Spier 1927:362-363). The Klamath had become involved as middlemen in | |
the growing slave trade at the Dalles (Spier 1930:26) and this trade, | |
in turn, may have served as the Upland Takelma's major | |
wealth-generating enterprise. They probably offered their captives | |
(who were often River Takelma) to whomever would purchase them. | |
According to Gatschet (1890 [I] :xxx) Watakshi was the Klamath name | |
for the Mountain Lakes group of peaks east of Lake of the Woods. | |
Kakasam Yaina referred to the "mountain of the great blue heron," | |
located northwest of Agency Lake (probably Devil's Peak or Klamath | |
Point). | |
Mount McLoughlin is the most prominent natural feature of the area, | |
and is visible for long distances from the territories of several | |
Indian groups. The Modocs, who inhabited the area south and east of | |
the Klamath, called it Melaiksi ("steepness," Gatschet 1890 [I]:xxx). | |
The Shasta referred to it as Makayax (Dixon 1907:pl.KIX). Mount | |
McLoughlin evidently figured in a Shasta myth as one of three peaks | |
(another being Mount Shasta) which were originally the only points of | |
land that poked above the surface of a great ocean (Holt 1946:326). | |
Mount McLoughlin was also the home of a powerful Shasta axaiki, or | |
nature spirit, who was called "Laurel Tree" (Holt 1946:331). Most of | |
the native groups, in fact, associated the mountain with an important | |
mythical figure. According to the Klamath, Mount McLoughlin (Kesh | |
yainatat or Walum) was the home of Wile'akak ("dwarf old woman"). | |
From her rocky above on the northeast slope of the mountain (North | |
Squaw Tip?), Wile'akak controlled the west wind: | |
It is really that she breaks wind. They [the Klamath] shout at her | |
to stop the wind when it blows too hard, to give them stern wind to | |
drive their canoes along, or to blow the mosquitoes away from Pelican | |
Bay (Spier 1930:104-105, see also Gatschet 1890 [II]:xxx.) | |
[I have experienced this wind and it can be fierce, pushing and | |
trapping small boats in the rushes near Pelican Bay. They blow hard | |
late in the afternoon, and die down after sunset.] | |
Talsunne, or "Acorn Woman," seems to have been a [Takelma] | |
"fertility, goddess of sorts. She was a giantess who was believed to | |
"descend from the wountain [McLoughlin] and walk forth upon the | |
land," sprinkling pieces of her flesh onto the oak trees. These grew | |
into acorns (Sapir 1907b:46). | |
Both the Takelma and the Klamath believed in a hairy "wild man" | |
creature who inhabited the forests; the Takelma referred to these | |
half men-half beasts as Yapadaldi (Sapir 1909 and 1907b, Spier | |
1930:104). | |
Individuals sometimes went into the High Cascades to seek "power" | |
through communication with a spirit. Klamath boys (and also some | |
male and female adults) often did this. | |
[One is] sent into the mountains for perhaps five days, to wander at | |
night, running continually, piling up rocks [to attract a spirit], | |
swimming in the mountain pools... fasting the while until a song | |
comes... in a dream... (1930:71). ... [one] seeks power that [one] | |
may ... be able to do all things that are difficult (1930:95). | |
The Mount McLoughlin petroglyphs also may represent a power quest | |
site. | |
Sometimes a youth would dive beneath a "lonely mountain pool", where | |
[they] held [their] breath and was "drawn below by a spirit." Often | |
losing consciousness, the young Klamath would hopefully awaken on | |
shore after experiencing ... spiritual power (Spier 1930:93 and 257). | |
## Historic period | |
Most of the hostilities of the Indian-white conflict took place in | |
the mining country west of the Cascade Range, and the McLoughlin Unit | |
did not witness the many small skirmishes that characterized the | |
1850s period. | |
The bustling little community received an additional boost that year | |
when the Pacific and Eastern Railway was completed from Medford to | |
Butte Falls. Work on the thirty-six mile long railroad had first | |
started in 1904. Initially known as the Medford and Crater Lake | |
Railroad, the investors employed crews of Sikh laborers imported from | |
British India to build the grade and lay tracks as far north as Eagle | |
Point. Railroad magnate James J. Hill and his associates purchased | |
the underfinanced line in 1909 and extended it, under the name | |
Pacific and Eastern, to Butte Falls (Lawrence 1967:2-3, Midrews | |
1917:16-17). | |
One of the more innovative structures was the Brush Mountain Lookout, | |
built in 1915-16 by Dan Pedersen, a native of Norway and a retired | |
sailor. Armed with an axe, auger and a pair of pliers he utilized a | |
120-foot high Shasta red fir as his lookout tower: | |
Starting at the ground he bored holes for two-inch yew pegs that made | |
a spiral ladder up the tree. As he progressed up, limbing as he | |
went, he sat on each peg just put in and bored the hole for the peg | |
above until he reached the height he wanted, 104 feet -- and then he | |
topped the tree... Yew poles, bent and wired to the ends of the | |
pegs, made the stairway more secure. Reminiscent of [Pedersen's] | |
sailing days, a five-foot diameter "crow's nest", built in Ashland | |
and raised to the top, gave him a place to stand while watching for | |
that first puff of smoke (Sarginson 1938:2). | |
Pedersen, who accomplished this work without the use of a safety | |
belt, later added a counter-weighted "elevator" made from large | |
buckets so that he "could zip up or down while visitors clutched | |
dizzily at the rungs of the ladder" (Sarginson 1938:3). The Forest | |
Service inspector commented in 1916: | |
I will say in passing that it requires a steady head not possessed by | |
everyone to climb this ladder (Foster 1916:41). | |
Pedersen remained as lookout-man on Brush Mountain for eleven | |
seasons. During the winters he worked as a cabin- and barn-builder... | |
# Chapter 5, Upper Rogue cultural unit | |
## Physical setting | |
The Western Cascades contain the only recorded paleontological sites | |
within the Rogue River National Forest: the Elkhorn Peak Fossil Bed | |
(Tertiary leaf-print fossils) and several petrified wood localities | |
near Quartz Mountain and Rabbit Ears Rock. Such resources are | |
subject to protective regulations similar to those applied to | |
cultural resources. | |
## Prehistoric period | |
Three or more native groups evidently utilized the resources of the | |
Upper Rogue Cultural Resource Unit by late prehistoric times: Upland | |
Takelma, Southern Molala, Klamath -- and possibly the Upper Umpqua. | |
The [Upland] Takelma's warlike nature earned them the name les | |
Coquins ("the Rogues") from French-Canadian trappers--whence the name | |
Rogue River (Walling 1884:312). | |
The Southern Molala (sometimes spelled "Molalla") occupied most of | |
the Rogue River drainage north of the present village of Prospect. | |
Very little is known about the Molala. The Klamath Indians referred | |
to them as Tcoka'nkni, "people of the serviceberry patch" (Spier | |
1930:4). | |
Like the Klamath, the Southern Molala spoke a language related to | |
that of the Sahaptin-speaking groups of the middle Columbia River | |
drainage. They evidently ranged "along the creeks of the high ridge | |
country down to the [Rogue River] canyon": | |
...The position of the Molala on the high ridges is so anomalous for | |
an Indian group as to be suspect were it not that... [Indian Agent | |
Joel Palmer wrote in 1853]: "While on my late expedition I came to | |
the knowledge of the existence of a tribe of Indians inhabiting the | |
country on the upper waters of the North and South Forks of the | |
Umpqua and the headwaters of the Rogue River called the wild | |
Mo-lal-la-las... They have but little intercourse with the whites, | |
being located in a mountainous region off the line of travel from | |
Oregon to California. They roam sometimes as far east and southeast | |
as the headwaters of the Deschutes and the Klamath Lake" (from: Spier | |
1927:360). | |
Palmer noted the obvious similarity in the names of this group and | |
the Molala of the eastern Willamette Valley... The Northern and | |
Southern Molala spoke virtually identical languages... | |
The Klamath inhabited the area directly east of the Unit, and they | |
are known to have seasonally utilized the Crater Lake-Huckleberry | |
Mountain area (Spier 1930). [I have camped on Huckleberry Mountain | |
multiple times, and it was indeed rich in huckleberries.] | |
The Upper Umpqua, an Athapascan-speaking group who extended eastwards | |
into the South Umpqua River drainage, may have been occasional | |
visitors to the Unit (e.g., upper Elk Creek?). ... As with the | |
Southern Molala, very little is known about the culture of these | |
people. | |
The Upland Takelma settlement of Latgua was located on the Rogue | |
River (Sapir 1907a), probably near the mouth of Big Butte Creek. | |
Buk'stubuks was the Molala winter village on the Rogue River, near | |
the present community of Prospect (Spier 1930:4). | |
According to Spier (1930), during the late summer and early autumn | |
(generally beginning in the third week of August) the Klamath Indians | |
moved "directly to Huckleberry Mountain, southwest of Crater Lake, to | |
gather the berries" (146) where, joined by the Molala, they collected | |
"enormous quantities" (165). The Klamath called the mountain | |
Iwumka'ni, "place of huckleberries," and they would camp there in | |
large groups for several weeks duration each year (Spier 1930:160). | |
The huckleberries were consumed either raw, dried or boiled down into | |
a thick, sweet "liquor" (Spier 1930:165). The Klamath and Molala | |
perpetuated the huckleberry fields by periodically setting ground | |
fires which halted the encroachment of the forest. The fires also | |
resulted in "a luxuriant and, to the Indian, a very valuable and | |
desirable growth" of young huckleberry brush (Leiberg 1900:278). | |
While camped at the berry fields, Klamath women peeled the bark from | |
lodgepole pines, weaving the strips into special huckleberry | |
"buckets" (Spier 1930:176). The inner bark of lodgepole and | |
ponderosa pine trees provided a source of emergency food during the | |
spring, when the Klamaths' winter food larder often had been | |
exhausted: | |
In the spring, usually in May, a broad strip of the bark... is | |
removed, and the sweet, mucilaginous layer of newly-formed tissue | |
between the bark and the sapwood is scraped off and eaten. This is a | |
frequent practice. Gatschet notes the use of bone implements to peel | |
off the bark. In April, the cambium of lodgepole pine is similarly | |
eaten (Spier 1930:165-166). | |
Cressman's report (1956:485) illustrates several peeled-bark | |
ponderosa pines which bear semi-rectangular scars at about | |
"waist-to-chest" height. The Klamaths evidently took care not to | |
girdle (and thereby kill) the trees. The Molala probably followed | |
this same practice... | |
The peaceful trading relationship between the Southern Molala and the | |
Klamath was mentioned in the previous chapter. Much of their | |
commerce probably took place when the two groups met late each summer | |
at Huckleberry Mountain. The Klamath obtained buckskins, elkhorn | |
spoons and other items from the Molala in exchange for wokas seeds | |
and ornamental beads (Curtis 1924, cited in: Follansbee and Pollock | |
1978:61; Spier 1930:41). | |
The Klamaths and others evidently held some of the area's prominent | |
natural features in special regard. During the occasional droughts | |
in the Klamath Basin, for instance, "little sacks of chipmunk and | |
squirrel skin were carried to spirit places in the mountains, such as | |
Diamond Lake and Crater Lake, whence water was brought to pour" into | |
the marshes in hopes of restoring their water level (Spier 1930:162). | |
According to McArthur (1974:67), local Indians knew Rabbit Ears Rock | |
as Kalistopox (probably a Klamath word, meaning not given), and | |
features like Rabbit Ears possibly served as power quest sites. | |
The Indians view Crater Lake and its surroundings as holy ground, and | |
approach it with reverence and awe. It is one of the earthly spots | |
made sacred by the presence of the Great Spirit, and the ancient | |
tribal traditions relate many mysterious incidents in connection with | |
it. In the past none but medicine men visited it, and when one of | |
the tribe felt called upon to become a teacher and healer, he spent | |
several weeks on the shore of the lake in fasting, in communication | |
with the dead, and in prayer... Here they saw visions and dreamed | |
dreams (quoted in: Walling 1884:309). | |
One special site, Ma'kwalks, was a point of rocks which projected | |
over the lake from the western rim (Discovery Point?) From there, | |
"the seeker climbs down [to the lakeshore] and piles rocks" (Spiet | |
1930:98). Crater Lake was known as Ge'wus to the Klamath, who | |
believed that people occasionally were stolen and taken down into the | |
lake by the beings who lived beneath the surface (Spier 1930:98). | |
The Klamath also believed that there once was "no water in the lake; | |
instead there were rocks as big as trees and deep tunnels in the | |
bottom" (Spier 1930:98). | |
## Historic period | |
...the Klamath Indians continue to use the berry fields at | |
Huckleberry Mountain each year, and this traditional use pattern | |
should be given both careful consideration. | |
The Upper Rogue area was not touched directly by the hostilities of | |
the Indian War period. | |
Local legend ascribes the name of Ginkgo Creek to the presence of | |
Chinese miners. They supposedly were prospecting the stream and | |
planted a ginkgo tree seedling along its banks (McArthur 1974:310). | |
The Chinese are known to have been active during the early mining era | |
in both southwestern and northeastern Oregon. It is quite possible | |
that Orientals passed through the Unit on their way to the John Day | |
Mine. Whether they ever actually planted a ginkgo tree is open to | |
question--none have been found growing in the area. [However, ginkgo | |
leaf fossils have been found.] | |
The Elk Creek (or Buzzard) Mine was the only mineral operation of any | |
economic consequence within the Upper Rogue drainage. | |
The Metal Mines Handbook (Oregon State Department of Geology | |
1943:196) states: | |
The total production, 1909-18, was nearly $24,000, chiefly in gold, | |
but it included some silver and lead. | |
During the era of high gold prices during the Depression, this mine | |
(renamed the "Al Sarena") underwent considerable development. | |
In 1916 over sixty percent of the fires on the Trail Ranger District | |
were purposely set. The Forest Service was forced to hire fire | |
detectives (Foster 1915:3-4), and by the 1920s the government saw the | |
need for a special public relations program with the residents of the | |
Elk Creek drainage so as "to secure personal contact and good will as | |
a foundation to better cooperation in...fire protection" (Rankin | |
1927:3). | |
During the late 1920s and the 1930s both the Crater Lake and Diamond | |
Lake roads were relocated and macadamized--the original routes were | |
abandoned. | |
Much of the old Diamond Lake (John Day) Road later evolved into F.S. | |
road #281 and is still in use. The military road to Fort Klamath has | |
been totally abandoned since the 1920s, although the original grade | |
is still readily visible for most of its length through the Upper | |
Rogue Unit. | |
The method of control involved the manual removal and disposal of | |
current bushes (Ribes spp.), the blister rust host species. | |
[Interesting! I remember eating currants near Union Creek.] | |
The crew members grubbed out the bushes with a specially designed | |
"Ribes pick"--much of this physically demanding labor took place on | |
the steep, brushy slopes of the Western Cascades. By 1939 over 400 | |
local men (selected by the Emergency Relief Administration) were | |
employed in Blister Rust Control work on the Union Creek Ranger | |
District (Rogue River NP 1939:3). (The Forest Service eventually | |
abandoned the costly [and largely ineffective] Ribes Eradication | |
program following World War II--in favor of a successful effort to | |
breed rust-resistant strains of white pine.) | |
# Chapter 6, Summary and synthesis | |
Although the remaining roadless areas of the Forest are hardly | |
"remote" by yesterday's standards, some of them recently have assumed | |
a practical and symbolic importance to large segments of the local | |
and national population--the preservation of the Forest's | |
"undeveloped," "primitive", or "wilderness" values is now perceived | |
by many people as both a significant task and an important | |
contribution of the current culture. | |
Having entered the final quarter of the twentieth century, the Rogue | |
River drainage has passed through the classic Far West sequence of | |
land-use phases--during which a series of human waves have advanced | |
through the forests and mountains of southwestern Oregon - | |
northwestern California: the centuries-long period of adaptation by | |
the aboriginal peoples... followed by the ever-quicker succession of | |
the various historic-era "frontiers": exploration and trapping, | |
mining, stock-raising and agriculture, transportation, logging, and | |
Federal management of a multiplicity of natural resources. By 1975, | |
however, the Rogue River National Forest's "pioneer era" (in the | |
broad sense of a period of initial development of natural resources) | |
had definitely come to a close. Nearly 430,000 acres of managed | |
commercial forestland, over 1,500 miles of roads, hundreds of | |
thousands of Forest visitors each year--these are but a few obvious | |
signs that the National Forest has entered a new and often more | |
challenging era. | |
author: LaLande, Jeffrey M. | |
detail: https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/rogue_river_national_forest/ | |
LOC: F882.R6 L34 | |
source: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/defaults/1n79h570m | |
source2: https://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/6/rogue-river/prehisto… | |
tags: ebook,history,native-american,non-fiction,oregon,outdoor | |
title: Prehistory and History of the Rogue River National Forest | |
# Tags | |
ebook | |
history | |
native-american | |
non-fiction | |
oregon | |
outdoor |