Documents Archive: Cottage Grove

William Hartless Reminisces 
Kalapuyan Languages 
Kalapuya Food Resources 
Native Groups of the Willamette Valley

Questions to Consider: 
How did Indians utilize the resources of the Willamette Valley? 
In what ways did they alter the valley environment and why? 


Executive Order, 1854 
The Donation Land Claim Act

Questions to Consider: 
How did the federal government remove land title from the Indians of this region and grant it to white settlers? 
What did native people give up and what did they retain in treaty negotiations and the final executive order that created their reservation? 


1913 Diary of Flora Hills 
Letters from the Bohemia Mines

Questions to Consider: 
What kinds of domestic tasks did Flora Hilla and Merle Moore do? 
How did the environment affect their daily lives? 


Sentinel Article: “Record Rainfall Brings Flood to Lower Willamette Valley Section” 
Willamette Valley Project Map 
Flood Control Act, 1936 
Willamette Valley Balance Sheet

Questions to Consider: 
How did Congress justify building the dams on the Willamette River? 
What benefits were the dams to provide? 
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the Willamette Valley as a dam site according to the Balance Sheet? 
What values or priorities does the list reflect? 
How would you change the list? 


Excerpts from Document 544 
Oregonian Article: “Willamette: Rebel River”

Questions to Consider: 
What human costs are associated with flooding? 
How is the Willamette characterized in this newspaper account? 
What would be some alternative ways to describe a flooding river? 


“Some Social Aspects of the Willamette Valley Project”

Questions to Consider: 
How did proponents of the dams envision a developed Willamette Valley? 


Sentinel Article: “Dorena Dam Now Stops Flow of Row River” 
Sentinel Article: “Dorena Dam Dedication” 
Flow Record from Dorena Dam, 1964 
Flow Record from Dorena & Cottage Grove Dams, 1996 
Sentinel Article: “Dams Keep Flooding to a Reasonable Level” 
Sentinel Article: “Local Recreation Group Will Seek to Develop Cottage Grove – Dorena Lake” 
Sensitive Species List

Questions to Consider: 
How have dams altered the way people relate to the Willamette River and its tributaries? How have they changed what we do on the valley rivers? 
What are the alternatives to dams? 


Map of the Umpqua National Forest 
Oregon & Southeastern Railroad Map 
Sentinel Articles: Coverage of the 1935 Strike

Questions to Consider: 
Why did workers decide to strike in 1935? 
What was the response of the mill owners? 
How was the strike resolved? 


Statistics regarding the decline in the timber industry in Lane County 
Images from the Row River Trail

Questions to Consider: 
How would you describe the changes in Cottage Grove’s timber industry over the last several decades? 


Oregonian Article: “Traits of All American City Cottage Grove” 
Population Statistics

Questions to Consider: 
How is Cottage Grove like/unlike your hometown? 
Given Cottage Grove’s history and patterns of development, how do you think it will change in the future? 

css.php