Making Place and Nation: Geographic Meaning and the Americanization of Oregon: 1834-1859 By MacKenzie Katherine Lee Moore A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor David M. Henkin, Chair Professor Kerwin Lee Klein Professor Nathan Sayre Fall 2012 Copyright 2012 by MacKenzie Katherine Lee Moore Abstract Making Place and Nation: Geographic Meaning and the Americanization of Oregon: 1834-1859 by MacKenzie Katherine Lee Moore Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor David Henkin, Chair “Making Place and Nation: Geographic Meaning and the Americanization of Oregon: 1834-1859” examines the ways colonists worked to counteract the problem of Oregon’s complicated geographic situation in order to naturalize the territory’s membership in the nation between the first American missionary settlement and admission as the union’s thirty-third state. Driven by their desire for national inclusion, colonists ascribed national meanings to local actions while also adapting national narratives to fit their immediate experience. This study uses two key concepts to spatially reconstruct the colonial experience: mental maps and vernacular geography. Colonists relied on mental mapping to navigate and to organize geographic knowledge, and this cognitive practice became part of the spatially focused community discourse dubbed vernacular geography. Locally produced geographic discourse united under one rubric the twin objectives that defined the conquest of Oregon: to civilize the landscape and eliminate the Indian presence therein, and to concurrently rewrite the map of the United States with Oregon squarely within its borders. Thus, “Making Place and Nation” asserts that the conquest of Oregon is best understood as a recursive process of making both place and nation. The dissertation relies on a wide variety of documentary materials, including personal and official letter correspondence, diaries and travelogues, pioneer reminiscences, petitions to local and federal government entities, newspapers, and official reports to agents of the central government. These sources reveal that colonists read both the physical transformation of Oregon’s environment and the amount of independence enjoyed by native groups as indicators of the territory’s potential for national incorporation The following chapters reinterpret a series of key events in the history of Oregon’s colonization. Chapter One traces the role of mental mapping in establishing an American colony. Chapter Two explores colonists’ conceptual tools to manage anxiety about sharing territory with independent Indian groups and their destruction in the 1847 Whitman Massacre. Chapter Three scrutinizes the production of local geographic knowledge as a method of wresting spatial control from Indians during the California and Southwest Oregon Gold Rush (1848-1853). Chapter Four analyzes the territorial dimensions of a colonial program of ethnic cleansing toward Indians in the Rogue River War (1855-56). Chapter Five investigates the extinguishment of Indian title and its relationship to the uneven implementation of the Oregon Donation Land Act during the era of removal (1856-1859). 1 To my magnificent wife Lucy Who nourishes my spirit, Makes life fun, And inspires me to push forward even when I am afraid. i Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………iii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1 CHAPTER ONE Finding Oregon: Distance and Connection in a Promised Land, 1834-1847………………………………….28 CHAPTER TWO Unfettered in a Boundless Waste: The Whitmans, the Cayuse, and the Struggle for Predictability, 1847-1849…………………..50 CHAPTER THREE A Vastly Important Region: Gold Rush and Vernacular Geography in Southwest Oregon, 1848-1853……………………72 CHAPTER FOUR Exterminating Indian Country: The Rogue River War, 1855-1856……………………………….95 CHAPTER FIVE Owning Oregon: Official Title and Vernacular Geography, 1856-1859……………………………..122 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………149 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………152 ii Acknowledgements Reflecting on all the help I have received to complete this project convinces me that I am the most fortunate person in the world, and fills me with abundant gratitude. Many friends and colleagues have generously given their time to read portions of this study. Anna Armentrout, Lucy Brosgart, Laura Ferguson, Diana Gildea, Beatrice Gurwitz, Anya Hankin, Deborah Kory, Melissa Levine, Pablo Mitchell, Jason Moore, and Aaron Welch all provided useful and constructive comments that helped me improve my work. The Dissertation Divas (Michele Lee Rossi, Dena Marie, Tiffany Linton-Page, Annie Hill, Laura Carrier, and our fearless leader Sabrina Soracco of UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division) have aided me more than I can say. Dinner club (Julia Cosgrove, Emma Batten-Bowman, Eleanor Mayer, and Lucy Brosgart) sat through practice conference presentations and provided needed encouragement. Special thanks as well to the members of the Antebellum History Dissertation Group at UC Berkeley: Bill Wagner, Michelle Branch, Ariel Ron, Kathryn Eigen, Amy Lippert, Jacqui Shine, and David Henkin. Stephen Dow Beckham corresponded with me and provided valuable insights about the history of Oregon’s Native people, and Stafford Hazelett supplied indispensable help making sense of the geography of the Southern Route and Southwest Oregon in general. The members of my dissertation committee, David Henkin, Kerwin Klein, and Nathan Sayre have been wonderfully helpful. They are all brilliant scholars with whom it has been an honor to work. Also many thanks to James Vernon and Tyler Stovall for helping me through Orals and encouraging me to think creatively. Michael Cohen’s magnetic teaching reinvigorated my passion for history at a crucial moment, and his wide stores of knowledge have helped me create better courses for my own students. I especially want to thank my Chair David Henkin, whose kindness has greatly eased my way. Special acknowledgment should go to two excellent teachers. Firstly my fourth-grade teacher and dear friend Nancy Ingham introduced me to the wonders of Oregon’s history, especially the Whitman Mission. Second, Pablo Mitchell of Oberlin College inspired me to study American History, encouraged me when I needed it, and guided me through my first big research project. He also taught me valuable lessons about the importance of transitions and the beauty of a well-written page. I have met some of the most helpful people in the world in my research forays into local and state historical societies and libraries. The assistance provided by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library, especially Geoff Wexler and Scott Daniels, has been invaluable. The same goes for Mary Gallagher at the Benton County Historical Society (man, is she good at her job), and the staffs of the University of Oregon Special Collections, the Polk, Linn, Marion, Jackson, and Douglas County Historical Societies, and the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. The Bancroft Library Gunther Barth Fellowship program provided needed dissertation funding, along with the Graduate Division Summer Grant Program at UC Berkeley, the Dean’s Normative Time Fellowship program, and the Department of History at UC Berkeley. I cannot imagine getting through graduate school without Anna Armentrout and Beatrice Gurwitz. They both unselfishly supported and encouraged me on countless occasions. Even more, their friendship created a space for honesty without any hint of competition. I am blessed to have had them as colleagues and to count them among my friends. The acceptance and openness that define my friendships with Deborah Kory, Aaron Welch, Stephanie Mackley, and Jonah Mackley-Welch has fortified me in developing the iii courage needed to face my post graduate-school life head on. They can also always be counted on to provide laughter, fun, and healthy perspective. Miso, Ifhe, and Clove have provided cozy and often hilarious company on a daily basis. To anyone thinking of writing a dissertation, I recommend getting a cat first. I have deep appreciation for my brother Jason Moore and sister-in-law Diana Gildea, who have encouraged me to widen my horizons for nearly twenty years. My relationship with them has opened up whole worlds of knowledge and experience that I may otherwise never have accessed. The generosity of my in-laws Carol Brosgart and Joe Gross is truly one of the wonders of this world. Knowing that I can always turn to them for anything from a wonderful meal to a place to live is a great blessing and constant comfort. Likewise, my aunt and uncle Melissa and Robert Moore have provided me with unconditional love and constant support my entire life; I am so happy to have them in my family and so thankful for all they have done for me since the loss of my father, John W. Moore. My mother Constance Lee’s constant love, humor, and patience have sustained me throughout my life. Through my mother’s eyes I can see myself as a unique and gifted person, which is always with me even when I am struggling the most. I want to thank her for believing in me and always taking the time to talk when I need it. And lastly, I must shower appreciation upon my wife Lucy, who has provided me with essential metaphorical and literal sustenance throughout my dissertation-writing process. When I need a song, she sings one; when I need a hug, she delivers;