Molala
This assortment includes the works of Albert S. Gatschet,[1] Franz Boas,[2] Leo J. Frachtenberg, Philip Drucker, Melville Jacobs,[3] and Leslie Spier.
[15] Molala territory once stretched across the Western Cascades; from Mount Hood and the Molalla River in the north to the Rogue headwaters in the south.
[16] In 1891 John Wesley Powell considered the Molala to have once "occupied a belt of mountain country south of the Columbia River, chiefly about Mounts Hood and Jefferson.
According to George Murdock this didn't "constitute an adequate basis for a definitive reconstruction of the history" of these native societies.
[20] In the 1930s Tenino informants of the Warm Springs Reservation told Murdock that Molalas once had a winter village in Tygh Valley.
According to Murdock, sometime in the early 19th century, coveting this bountiful resource, Tenino warriors forced the Molala to flee to the western Cascades.
Both French and Rigsby concluded the regional resources were jointly used by Sahaptin speakers, Wasco-Wishram peoples, and the Northern Paiute.
Ownership of slaves and horses, along with animal hides and dentalium crafts, were the primary sources of wealth in Molala society.
[27] The Southern Molala inhabited the headwaters of the Rogue and Umpqua Rivers along the bases of Crater Lake and Mount McLoughlin.
Franz Boas recorded čimbú•ihe as a native settlement outside Albany,[2] which was later reported by Albert S. Gatschet as a Molala village located on the Santiam headwaters.
[27] Roosevelt elk and Black-tailed deer were "economically the most important resource exploited" by the Molala peoples.
They were short-haired, had erect ears, short faces, with sometimes black marks on the upper eyelids..."[33] A number of other animals were hunted, not for sustenance but for feathers or fur, such as the bald eagle, coyotes, and bobcats.
Located nearby Crater Lake, Huckleberry Mountain was the "single-most important berry-gathering area" for the Southern Molala and Klamath.
[34][35] Edible berries in the vicinity include the Littleleaf Huckleberry, Western Blueberry, Manzanita Berry, Wild Strawberry, Black Twinberry, Evergreen Blackberry, Blackcap Raspberry, Thimbleberry, Blue Elderberry, Red Elderberry, Wax Currant, and Rose hips from the local Wild Rose.
Among the bordering peoples were the Kalapuya to west in the Willamette Valley, the Upper Chinookans to north on the Columbia River, and the Klamath to the southeast.
"[32] The Southern Molala exchanged buckskins in return for Klamath crafted beads and wocus seeds.
[45] Groups of armed men called the haylúnci, "upstreamers", occasionally attacked Molala settlements for slaves [25] These slavers were from the Cayuse and Nez Perce peoples.
After a series of thefts, an armed group of settlers killed several Klamath and forced them to flee eastwards into the Cascade Mountains.
Federal orders were for the various native peoples residing west of Cascades to be forcibly relocated to reservations established to the east of the mountains.
In exchange for yielding much of their territory, on 6 May, the Northern Molala agreed to payments of goods, cash, and a reservation centered on the Molalla River eastwards to the Cascades.
Because these agreements allowed for the Kalapuyans and Molala to retain portions of the Willamette Valley, settlers protested the Dart Treaties.
[57] Joel Palmer was the next Superintendent who negotiated a series of Treaties with Oregon Natives that were largely approved by the Federal Government.
Among others, the Northern and Upper Santiam Molala agreed to abandon the Willamette Valley in favor of a location selected by Palmer.
[9] In 1857, settlers located around Molalla complained about the nearby Grand Ronde Reservation: "[Natives are] constantly annoying the settlers by passing to and fro over our premises, leaving fences down, and occasionally committing petit larcenies...The fact is, these Indians are a nuisance..."[63]Reportedly in November 1870 an outbreak of smallpox spread among the Molala residing in Clackamas County.
[49] At the opening ceremonies of the 1915 Siletz Fair, a Molala headman named John Williams delivered an address that was described by the Lincoln County Leader as "eloquent, patriotic and impressive.
"[68] The newspaper continued to detail Williams' speech: "He was proud of his Indian blood and urged his people to stand by their race.
He maintained a homestead on the Northern fork of the Molalla River and was held in high regard by neighboring settlers.
The event was held to celebrate the opening of passenger rail service by the Portland, Eugene & Eastern Railway Company.
[73] Two months later in November, a Clackamas County grand jury issued a warrant for Harry Clark, a mixed race native.
[75] A private collection of Molala artifacts located in Mt Angel in 1931 included 535 flint arrowheads, an 8 inch tomahawk head, and an assortment of beadwork.
