The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Their nearly 70-year-old constitution identifies five constituent tribes – the Clatsop and Cathlamet (Kathlamet) of present-day Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum (Waukikum) and Willapa (Weelappa) of what is now Washington State.
https://www.pdx.edu/anthropology/chinookan-peoples-lower-columbia
https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/93/
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/wappato_valley_villages/
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/multnomah_indians/
In 2001, the Chinook Nation obtained federal recognition from the U.S. government. However, celebration turned into heartbreak when recognition was rescinded eighteen months later.
The contemporary Chinook Nation:
https://chinooknation.org
https://chinooknation.org/who-we-are/
https://www.facebook.com/ChinookIndianNation
In May, 1792, Captain Robert Gray sailed his ship, the Columbia Rediviva, into the mouth of the Columbia River. The trade-savvy Chinook exchanged fish and furs for Euro-American items. Gray’s visit gains significance later when used to establish an American claim to the region under Euro-American international law.
http://publichistorypdx.org/projects/chinook/lower-columbia-chinook-historical-timeline/
With Gray’s entry into the river, the United States had an arguable claim to discovery in the deliberations with Great Britain that led to the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/gray_robert/
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/exploration-amp-fur-trade-by-robert-gray/
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon-treaty
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/hudson_s_bay_company/
As a commercial mariner, Gray played no role as an emissary for his country, so he willingly passed on his sketch chart of the Columbia to British Capt. George Vancouver, who had told Gray that he did not believe the river existed.
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/vancouver_george/
In October of 1792, two British ships, the Discovery, commanded by Captain Vancouver and Chatham, under the command of Lieutenant William Broughton, arrive at the river’s mouth. Broughton sends two longboats approximately 100 miles upriver. Vancouver’s description begins at Oak Point near present-day St. Helens, Oregon and Port Westward, Washington, where Broughton encountered 23 canoes, each carrying from three to twelve Indians. From Oak Point, the crew proceeded to Point Warrior, now Sauvie Island.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark used the map made by Lt. William Broughton to orient themselves on the river in 1805.
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/columbia_river/
Over eighty Chinookan villages, representing a population of at least 15,000 people, existed on the lower Columbia River (Astoria to Cascade Locks), in the first half of the nineteenth century. Chinookan languages were spoken in clusters of village dialects, stretching along the lower Columbia River.
A replica Chinookan long-house was constructed in 2005–2006 near the archeological site on the Ridgefield Refuge, near Ridgefield, Washington. It was built by members of the Chinook Nation, volunteers from the Ridgefield community, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The size and population of villages varied seasonally, as people left or arrived in search of resources. During the winter, people in the Chinook, Willapa Bay, and Clatsop clusters moved inland, coming back to the river in warmer weather for the fishing. After Fort Astor was built in 1811, villages on that part on the river came to be inhabited year-round.
Hayden Island and the modern St. Johns neighborhood of North Portland drew Cascades peoples’ seasonal migrations for salmon, eulachon, and wapato, where they could be most easily harvested or were more abundant.
Each village might have one or more “chiefs” — basically, heads of households. The wealthiest and most influential was usually the village chief. Chiefs directed foraging activities, allocated resources for their households, hosted religious ceremonies and sometimes gave advice and helped settle disputes.
Fort Vancouver, located in Vancouver, just across the river from Hayden Island, was the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trade activity on the Pacific coast and established in 1824. Operations until 1845 were overseen by Chief Factor John McLoughlin. The Treaty of Oregon in 1846 permitted the Hudson’s Bay Company to continue to operate at Fort Vancouver, which was now within the Oregon Territory. On June 14, 1860, Fort Vancouver was abandoned by the Hudson’s Bay Company in favor of their stations in British Columbia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Vancouver_National_Historic_Site
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe has paid millions to a Portland consulting firm to protect its highly successful ilani Casino Resort from unwanted competition — namely other tribes looking to expand their gaming operations in Oregon. Ilani became the nearest casino to Portland when it opened in 2017 outside La Center, Washington, and it now boasts annual revenue of at least $300 million a year, reports the Oregonian.
https://www.cowlitz.org/
https://ilaniresort.com/
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2022/12/cowlitz-tribes-gamble-a-campaign-to-keep-rival-casinos-at-bay-raises-questions.html
The tribe aimed to stave off competitors, particularly the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon.
https://spiritmountain.com/
https://www.chinookwindscasino.com/
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Oregon has nine federally recognized tribes.
https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/ABOUTDHS/TRIBES/Pages/Tribes.aspx
1. Burns Paiute of Harney County, located north of Burns, Oregon in Harney County.
2. Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, made up of three tribes: two bands of Coos Tribes and Siuslaw Trib
3. Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, includes over 30 tribes and bands from western Oregon, northern California, and southwest Washington.
4. Confederated Tribes of Siletz, 27 bands, originating from Northern California to Southern Washington.
5. Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Reservation, a union of three tribes: Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla.
6. Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute Native American Tribes.
7. Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, located in Southwestern Oregon, is governed by an elected eleven-member council.
8. Coquille Indian Tribe, lived in the lands of the Coquille River watershed and lower Coos Bay.
https://www.coquilletribe.org/
9. Klamath Tribes, the Klamath, the Modoc and the Yahooskin-Paiute people, have lived in the Klamath Basin
Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led nonprofit out of Canada, put together a searchable map of Native territories, languages and treaties.