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it <br /> • Both the Kalapuya and Euro-American <br /> ' ~ settlers had one goal in common; to survive, <br /> and to persevere. And, indeed, both have <br /> µ <br /> i ! , done so. <br /> i , <br /> As a metropolitan park at the center of our <br /> ' community, it is fitting that Skinner Butte <br /> Park play a role in beginning to interpret <br /> and share that legacy. A wish has been <br /> expressed by members of the community <br /> <br /> 1 that this legacy be one of clear <br /> ' understanding about what happened to the N <br /> Kalapuya people, but more importantly one ~ <br /> ' of mutual survival, understanding, and ~ <br /> - This rare photograph looking towards the future. ~ <br /> reportedly depicts amat- U <br /> covered Kalapuya summer <br /> house atmosphere in the valley some 200 years <br /> ago was, by and large, much more clear Euro-American <br /> than it is today, we can only surmise that Settlement <br /> this must have been a spectacular vista. <br /> ! From the butte, situated between the river <br /> and the Amazon- flood plain, early The First Explorers <br /> inhabitants were probably also able to track The very earliest of Euro-American <br /> <br /> ' ! the movements of wildlifethrough the local explorers arrived along the Pacific <br /> <br /> I. ~ landscape, or the movements of other Northwest coast in the mid and late 1500s <br /> people. in search of the mythic northwest passage. <br /> The area remained largely uncharted, <br /> The cultural use of Skinner Butte, therefore, however, until Captain Cook landed at <br /> is literally thousands ofyears old. Although present-day British Columbia, where he <br /> dramatically altered, the views of the developed a rich fur trade with the native <br /> . , surrounding landscape enjoyed by park inhabitants. This discovery brought many <br /> visitors today are pre-historic in their more traders and explorers from several <br /> significance, and offer a perspective from European countries, and between the late <br /> which to view the changing landscape. 1700s and the early 1800s, at least 443 <br /> expeditions had landed on Pacific <br /> 4 ; Looking Forward Northwest shores. <br /> The legacy of the Kalapuya is complex. It <br /> ` is a colossal tragedy, and it is a source of Other explorers searched for the northwest <br /> inspiration. It helps us understand the land passage overland. The firstwas Alexander <br /> we live in much more deeply, and it helps McKenzie in 1793, followed by the Lewis <br /> ~ us see more clearly where we are going. and Clark expedition of 1804. Lewis and <br /> Skinner Butte park The fate of the Kalapuya, as with countless Clark knew about the Willamette Valley, but <br /> i can play a rote in other Native American cultures in North never ventured into its vast prairies during <br /> j sharing fhe story of ~ America and elsewhere, is inextricably their voyage down the Columbia. <br /> the Kalapuya with connected to the culture that consumed <br /> fhe community them. In the case of some Willamette Valley Fur trappers from trading outposts at <br /> ~ settlers, the Kalapuya were their friends, present-day Astoria were probably the first <br /> ' ~ ~g and often their lifeline. Relations during this explorers to wander into the Willamette <br /> contact period were predominantly Valley. Around 1812, several larger <br /> peaceful. Indeed, there are friendships expeditions traveled as far as the East-Fork <br /> between settler families and Kalapuya Willamette River (nowthe McKenzie River), <br /> families that are still strong today, where and brought news of broad plains, open <br /> the descendants of both still live near one woodlands and fertile soil that quickly <br /> another on the lands of their ancestors. spread to would-be pioneers from the <br /> Skinner Butte Park • Master Plan 2001 27 <br /> <br />