The People Who Came Before Us

      Some people have these questions about Native Americans. Where did they live? Where are they now? What did they eat? How did they live? These are some answers.

      These are some interesting Shoshone facts. The Shoshones gathered chokecherries and dug up bitterroot. Pine nuts, which are from the pinon tree, were important to the Shoshones. Hunters covered themselves with animal skins to stealthily sneak up on prey. They lived somewhere in Eastern Oregon. They now live on the Wind River Reservation, in Idaho.
      These are some facts about the Kalapuyans. The Kalapuyans consumed, roots, stems, flowers, fruits, seeds and nuts, which were not usually poisonous. They cleverly set tarweed plants on fire to get the seeds. They ate roasted grasshoppers like popcorn during the freezing winter. In the beginning, they lived in Western Oregon. They currently live on the Grand Ronde Reservation, in Oregon.

      These are some intriguing facts about the Chinook Indians. Interestingly, the Chinook Indians hung fish on their ceilings to dry. To swiftly catch the fish, they used a long pole, which had a net on the end to remove the fish out of the water. Apparently, they were the first people to make canoes. They lived in what is now Clackamas County. Today, they have no reservation.
      These three Oregon Indian tribes are fascinating to me. They are the same in some ways and different in others. We can learn from the people who came before us.