In 1907, members of the Hood River Pioneer Society began to collect items which they felt should be preserved for future generations. In 1978, The History Museum was opened to the public. The museum seeks to tell the unique story of Hood River County, Oregon. Three displays in The History Museum show some of the Native history of the region.
American Indian Petroglyphs:
For many millennia prior to the European invasion, American Indian people camped along the Columbia River in the Hood River area where they harvested and dried the abundant salmon. Their villages served as trading centers for goods flowing eastward from the Pacific Ocean and westward from the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Along the Columbia Gorge rock art—primarily petroglyphs (pictures and symbols carved into the rock—adorned the banks of the mighty river. When The Dalles Dam was completed in 1957, the rising waters submerged many of the petroglyphs as well as traditional fishing sites and ancient village sites. Many of these petroglyphs were removed—some by vandals who simply cut them from the Gorge walls with power tools and sold them on the open market and some by individuals who were interested in their preservation. In 2004, some of the petroglyphs were moved to the Tamani Pesh-wa (Written on Rock) Trail at Columbia Hills State Park in Washington.
Growing up in the Hood River area, some of the non-Indian children would make rubbing from these ancient petroglyphs. Shown below are a sampling of the rubbings from a larger collection donate to The History Museum by Mary Moran, granddaughter of De Forest “De” and John Dayton “Date” McLucas.
Mother Earth Provides:
One display case in The History Museum contains American Indian artifacts.
Shown above are bark baskets.
Shown above is a net sinker weight.
Remembering Martha:
In many of the towns of the American West, there are stories of Indians who helped the “pioneers” who had displaced the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. These Indians are often given European names, such as Indian Sam, Indian Mary, or Indian Martha. These own names, and often their tribal identities, have been lost in the fog of history and in the exuberance of the telling of the “pioneer” story. For Hood River, the Indian who is fondly remembered is Martha Aleck, commonly known as Indian Martha. According to the display:
“She had many friends among the pioneer residents of Hood River. She worked as a practical nurse, and did washing, ironing and general work for several local families. It is believed that she had been a ‘healer’ within her tribe. Martha was hard working, a mother, a good neighbor and an artisan.”
When the United States took control of the area in the mid-nineteenth century, government policy called for the removal of the Indians from the Columbia River and their resettlement in the interior far from the river. Martha, who had been educated at Fort Vancouver, refused to move to the reservation and lived in a small cabin on the outskirts of the Hood River community. As an Indian, she was not a U.S. citizen, nor could she own land, or testify in court against a non-Indian. Living in-between two cultures, she dressed in a combination of European clothes and Native American moccasins. According to the display:
“Martha had strong feelings about the value of her culture and she was afraid it would be lost when she and the other old ones died. She though people of the next generation younger than here were interested only in joining the dominant culture and giving up traditional Indians ways.”
Martha was well-known for her fine beadwork, some of which is shown below.
Shown above is a typical American Indian saddle. When the fur traders from John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company came into this area after 1811, they would purchase horses and saddles from the Indians. The fur traders generally disliked the saddles and found them uncomfortable.
Shown above is a wooden mixing bowl.