Concomly (1765?-1830?).

Of the several Chinook men called Concomly at one time or another, the most famous was the headman …

Of the several Chinook men called Concomly at one time or another, the most famous was the headman located on Baker's Bay, on the north bank of the Columbia River, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was through the writings of fur traders and explorers who …

Flora Cushinway Thompson (1898–1978).

Flora Cushinway Thompson (enrolled Warm Springs) was a spiritual and community leader who lived at …

Flora Cushinway Thompson (enrolled Warm Springs) was a spiritual and community leader who lived at Celilo Village on the mid-Columbia River. An accomplished speaker and advocate for Indigenous rights, she was a prominent and well-regarded leader in the Pacific Northwest who was familiar to both Native and non-Native …

George W. Aguilar, Sr. (1930-).

George W. Aguilar, Sr., is a Wasco Elder and life-long resident of the Warm Springs Reservation who…

George W. Aguilar, Sr., is a Wasco Elder and life-long resident of the Warm Springs Reservation who won the 2006 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction for his book, When the River Ran Wild! Indian Traditions on the Mid-Columbia and the Warm Springs Reservation. The book, which also received …

Halito (Chief Halo) (?-1892).

Chief Halito, commonly shortened to Chief Halo (meaning “having little” or “needing little”), was l…

Chief Halito, commonly shortened to Chief Halo (meaning “having little” or “needing little”), was leader of the Yoncalla Kalapuya tribe and was married to Du-Ni-Wi, one of several wives. He remained on the Applegate family donation land claim in the Umpqua Valley after removal of other tribes to reservations. Despite …

Heinmot Tooyalakekt (Chief Joseph) (1840-1904).

Heinmot Tooyalakekt (Thunder Rising to Loftier Mountain Heights), also known as Chief Joseph, was a…

Heinmot Tooyalakekt (Thunder Rising to Loftier Mountain Heights), also known as Chief Joseph, was a prominent figure among the Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce. He is best remembered as a leader during the Nez Perce War of 1877. Although his role in that conflict is much misunderstood, Joseph participated significantly in …

Henry Yelkus (c. 1843–1913).

Henry Yelkus (also spelled Yalkus, Yelkes, Yelkis, Yal-kus, and Yelcus), a member of the Molalla Tr…

Henry Yelkus (also spelled Yalkus, Yelkes, Yelkis, Yal-kus, and Yelcus), a member of the Molalla Tribe, lived at Dickey Prairie, southeast of present-day Molalla, Oregon. His father, Kil-ke, also known as Chief Yelkus (Yelkas), was one of three signatories of the May 6, 1851, land-cession treaty at Champoeg and …

Kalliah Tumulth (Indian Mary) (1854-1906).

Kalliah Tumulth, also called Indian Mary, was a Cascade (Watlala) Chinook born in October 1854 to a…

Kalliah Tumulth, also called Indian Mary, was a Cascade (Watlala) Chinook born in October 1854 to a signer of one of the main Oregon treaties. Kalliah was a strong, independent woman who, when a little girl, suffered the hanging of her father Chief Tumulth and eight other Cascade leaders by …

Kiesno (Chief Cassino) (1779?-1848).

Chief Kiesno (his name has also been spelled Keasno, Casino, Kiyasnu, Q’iesnu, Ciasno, Cassino, and…

Chief Kiesno (his name has also been spelled Keasno, Casino, Kiyasnu, Q’iesnu, Ciasno, Cassino, and Cassinov) was an important Multnomah-Wakanasisi Chinookan leader in the Wapato Valley (Portland Basin). Throughout the fur trade era (1810-1840s), he had the respect of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Pacific Fur Company, …

Kintpuash (Captain Jack) (c. 1837-1873).

  Kintpuash (Strikes the Water Brashly), also known as Captain Jack and Kientpoos, was a principal…

  Kintpuash (Strikes the Water Brashly), also known as Captain Jack and Kientpoos, was a principal headman of the Modoc tribe during the 1860s and early 1870s. He rose to national prominence during the Modoc War of 1872-1873. Leading a coalition of Modoc bands in a war of resistance against U.S. …

Molala Kate Chantal (1844?-1938).

Molala Kate Chantal (also known as Molala Kate)—the daughter of Molalla Chief Yelkus (Kil-ke), a si…

Molala Kate Chantal (also known as Molala Kate)—the daughter of Molalla Chief Yelkus (Kil-ke), a signer of treaties with the United States in 1851 and 1855—was born in Dickey Prairie, near present-day Molalla, Oregon, in about 1844. One of the last speakers of the Molalla language, Chantal was a principal …

Quinaby (1815?-1883).

Quinaby (Quimby, Quiniby), a Tsimikiti (Chemeketa) Kalapuya Indian, saw the first whites settle in …

Quinaby (Quimby, Quiniby), a Tsimikiti (Chemeketa) Kalapuya Indian, saw the first whites settle in French Prairie in the mid-Willamette Valley. Known as Chief Quinaby to resettlers in Salem, he reportedly carried himself in a regal manner and was considered an honest person who worked to keep peace between …

Sarah Winnemucca (1844?-1891).

Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute, had a clear purpose in life: “I mean to fight for my down-trodden race …

Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute, had a clear purpose in life: “I mean to fight for my down-trodden race while life lasts.” Winnemucca lived part of her adult life on reservations in Oregon and was an important figure in the Bannock Indian War of 1878 before becoming a nationally prominent spokesperson …

Seldon E. Kirk (1884-1971).

Seldon Kirk was a prominent leader of the Klamath during the tribe’s most turbulent and consequenti…

Seldon Kirk was a prominent leader of the Klamath during the tribe’s most turbulent and consequential events in the twentieth century. Over the course of a long and public life, he served as a central figure in tribal governance and as a key intermediary between the Klamath Tribes and non-Native …

Tecumtum (?-1864).

Tecumtum, whose name means Elk Killer, was the principal chief of the Etch-ka-taw-wah band of Athab…

Tecumtum, whose name means Elk Killer, was the principal chief of the Etch-ka-taw-wah band of Athabaskan Indians during the Rogue River War in the mid-1850s. He was known by various names, including Te-cum-tom, Chief John, Old John, and Tyee John. As a chief of his tribe, he signed three treaties …

Tommy Thompson (1864?–1959).

Tommy Kuni Thompson served as the headman of Wyam (an Ichiskiin Sinwit word that translates as "ech…

Tommy Kuni Thompson served as the headman of Wyam (an Ichiskiin Sinwit word that translates as "echo of falling water" in English), also called Celilo Village, and was the salmon chief at Celilo Falls during the tumultuous final decades of the traditional Indigenous fishery there. He was a lifelong advocate …

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard (1867-1930).

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard was the teller of Clackamas Chinook narratives and traditions tr…

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard was the teller of Clackamas Chinook narratives and traditions transcribed by anthropologist Melville Jacobs and published by him as Clackamas Chinook Texts (1958-1959), one of the richest records of the Indigenous northwest Oregon storytelling art. While Jacobs referred to her invariably as “a Clackamas Chinook,” …