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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.
(HTM) detail: https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/rogue_river_national_forest/
LOC: F882.R6 L34
(HTM) source: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/defaults/1n79h570m
(HTM) source2: https://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/6/rogue-river/prehistory-history.pdf
tags: ebook,history,native-american,non-fiction,oregon,outdoor
title: Prehistory and History of the Rogue River National Forest
# Tags
(DIR) ebook
(DIR) history
(DIR) native-american
(DIR) non-fiction
(DIR) oregon
(DIR) outdoor