Oregon Early History

First Early Inhabitants

Early history examines the archaeological record that tells the story of the first inhabitants of Oregon. Learn about the history and culture of the first inhabitants, and what lessons it might teach us about the early history of Oregon.

• 13 thousand years ago - First native Americans had arrived in the Northwest from Mongolia by way of Siberia and Alaska

About thirteen thousand years ago the first native Americans had arrived in the Northwest from Mongolia by way of Siberia and Alaska. The Indian pictographs on canyon walls and legends of the Northwest's earliest historic accounts provide the story of how Oregon was shaped by the ocean, volcanoes and rain. The earliest groups lived by fishing and hunting large game. Groups living along the lower Columbia River lived in large multi-family long houses. Other groups living further up the Columbia tended to live in smaller groups and be more nomadic. These people fished for salmon on the Willamette River, and in the spring and summer, thousands gathered to harvest the Chinook salmon and trade with one another. Many Oregon names are derived from Indian tribal names, such as Multnomah, Willamette, Siuslaw and Clackamas.

The native Americans were followed many centuries later by Spanish and British mariners seeking the fabled "great river of the west."

It is estimated that Indians speaking more than 30 different languages lived throughout Oregon by the eighteenth century.