Kalapuya Land

When you enter Luckiamute Meadows, you are entering the ancestral home of the Lakmut (Luckiamute) band of the Kalapuya.  The Lakmut band camped, harvested camas, hunted, and fished along the banks of Maxfield Creek and the Luckiamute River for thousands of years.  They had a vibrant culture and stable society, and they cared for the land. 

"Beginning in about 1790 the Kalapuyans began suffering from the plagues of the newcomer explorers and fur traders to the region. the first plague was likely small pox which had a lessening effect. The second large plague was malaria which took hold in 1829 and within five years decimated some 90% of the population of Kalapuyans.  By 1850 their populations declined sharply from an estimate of over 20,000 people to about 1000. Due to the pressures of American settlement the Kalapuyans signed treaties with the United States Government, ceding away over one million acres, and in 1856 were removed to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation and continued to decline in population. The Kalapuyans signed treaties with the United States on at least four occasions. In 1851, the tribes of the Willamette Valley signed treaties which allowed for the creation of permanent reservations within their homelands. These treaties were not ratified by Congress."

--excerpted on August 30, 2020, from the blog site of David G. Lewis, PhD, a Native history researcher. He is a member of the Grand Ronde Tribe, Takelma, Chinook, Molalla, and Santiam Kalapuya ancestry.