A continuation of yesterday’s Part One.
Again, a fascinationg account.
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Merlin Oregon,
Gateway To The Wild & Scenic Rogue River
The little hamlet of Merlin is located northwest of Grants Pass and is the home base for many outfitters and fishing guides. This and the fact that Merlin is close to the 84-mile segment of the Rogue River set aside by Congress under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, is why Merlin is known as the “Gateway To The Wild & Scenic Rogue River.”
Located nearby is the famous Hellgate Canyon (on Galice Hwy.) where Rooster Cogburn with John Wayne and many other Westerns were filmed. Above Merlin is Grave Creek, the starting point for the 32 mile “wild” section of the Rogue River.
Great Fishing and rafting on the white waters are but some of the activities available in the Merlin area. One of the best hiking trails around is the famous Rogue River Wild and Scenic Trail which starts at Grave Creek above Merlin and runs downstream 40 miles through the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River to Foster Bar.
Located in Merlin Oregon, (PH: picture of tree on Sunday) this tree is Oregon’s 2nd oldest apple tree. It was planted by the Haines family in the either 1852 or 1854 (accounts vary), the tree stood throughout the Indian wars. The fighting began in 1855 when white vigilantes attacked a group of peaceful Indians-mostly women, children and elderly men-(at present day Eagle Point). Under the direction of a man who titled himself Major James A. Lupton, a group of ” hair brained enthusiast and professed ruffians” butchered the Indians, according to A.G. Walling’s story “A History Of Southern Oregon,” published in 1884.
The Indians in the area struck back, working their way down the Rogue River and attacking white homesteads. Their thirst for vengeance had not been quenched by the time they reached Merlin, according to the recently published “An Arrow In The Earth”: General Joe Palmer and the Indians of Oregon.”
Although Haines tried to fight off the Indians, they were one family against a band of angry warriors. When volunteers arrived to help, according to contemporary accounts, they found Mr. Haines and his young son murdered at the home site. The Indians took Mrs. Haines and her daughter captive, presumed to have been thrown into Hellgate Canyon on the Rogue River. Taking in account that white accounts of Indian atrocities were nearly always exaggerated.
The tree was reported to have died in August, 1973, a few months after Josephine County Commissioners held a ceremony celebrating its antiquity. But three years later, branches of the old three were still alive, and the State Forestry Department declared it a historic site.
A special thanks to Marilyn Luttrell, who over the years has looked after and help raise money to protect this historical tree and site.” We thank you Marilyn”
Life
Peters’s father, known as Umpqua Joe, was a member of the Grave Creek band of the Umpqua people who was known for warning settlers and miners in the Grants Pass area of an impending attack from local Indians in 1855.
Peters’s father was reportedly allowed to stay on his land after the end of the Rogue River Wars rather than be removed to a reservation. Mary Peters, popularly known as “Indian Mary” – not to be confused with a different Native American woman also living in Oregon during the same period (Kalliah Tumulth, a WatlalaChinook) and also known as “Indian Mary”– lived on the land where her father had operated a ferry to transport miners and supplies in Southern Oregon until his death on November 13, 1886. After his death, Peters applied for a claim for the land under the Dawes Act, also known as the “Indian Homestead Act.” Eight years later, she received a little more than 72 acres.
Her 25-year land deed has often been described as the smallest Indian reservation in the United States. In 1958, the land was converted by Josephine County to Indian Mary Park, named after Peters.
She continued to operate her father’s ferry business after his death. In 1894 she leased the ferry to William Massie and moved with her two surviving daughters to Grants Pass. She moved to Salem in 1920 to be near her daughters. Peters died in 1921 and is buried in Salem‘s City View Cemetery.
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I hope you will view the photographs this Sunday.
Learning from Dogs 