14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



their losses. Their estimates for the principal groups at that period 

 seem very nearly correct as compared with later statements of the 

 Hudson Bay Company officers, Hale and others. They give the 

 Shahaptian tribes 17,960 ; Chinookan tribes 16,640 ; the Kalapuyan 

 tribes 2,000; Yakonan 5,700; the Kusan 1,500; etc., each of vi^hich 

 was probably from one-fourth to one-third less than the corres^xinding 

 number before the epidemic of 1782-3. 



The beginning of regular trade with ocean vessels at the mouth 

 of the Columbia in 1788 marked the introduction of sexual diseases 

 from sailors and traders which soon poisoned the blood of practically 

 all the Indians west of the Cascades, resulting in a constant and 

 rapid decay even without the agency of epidemics or wars. Liquor, 

 introduced in large quantities by Russian traders, despite the efforts 

 of the Hudson Bay Company officers to prevent it, is also said to 

 have been a potent destroyer along the coast and the Columbia 

 (Farnham). In 1823 (Hale; others make it as late as 1829) an epi- 

 demic of fever, said to have been due to plowing operations by the 

 whites at Fort A ancouver. spread along the whole Columbia region 

 below the Dalles, the whole Willamette Valley, and apparently also 

 the coast and central region as far south as California. Over much 

 of this area, according to Hale, it destroyed four-fifths of the natives, 

 practically exterminating the Chinookan tribes, leaving only about 

 1,300 out of the thousands found by Lewis and Clark. The Kalapuya 

 and Oregon coast tribes seem to have suffered in nearly the same 

 proportion, but the Salishan and Shahaptian tribes of Washington, 

 eastern Oregon, and Idaho appear to have escaped. In 1846 the 

 Columbia tribes, including the Nez Perces, suft'ered another visitation 

 of smallpox. In 1847 <^ measles epidemic, also originating with the 

 whites, spread over much of the same territory, being particularly 

 fatal to the Cayuse and associated tribes in eastern Oregon. In 1852-3 

 smallpox, introduced from San Francisco among the Makah, spread 

 with its usual destructive effect among nearly all the tribes of Wash- 

 ington and northern Idaho, wiping out whole villages in some tribes. 

 The Indian wars and conflicts with new settlers from 1840 to 1855 

 contributed also to a large decrease in the tribes concerned, while 

 the removal to reservations about the latter date proved in many 

 cases more fatal even than smallpox, the small tribes of western 

 Oregon especially losing over half their number within a few years. 

 The decrease continued until they are now almost extinct. The larger 

 tribes of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, 

 having been less exposed and of healthier blood, have suffered less, 



