Eventually explorers and settlers from Europe and the Americas came to the Willamette Valley. Explorers came to see what the area was like and whether they could earn money by finding resources, such as gold or animal fur, that other people wanted to buy. Settlers came years later to find a new place to live. In general, Kalapuyans and Euro-American settlers lived peacefully together though at times they did disagree and fight.

The explorers and settlers brought diseases to the Willamette Valley that the Native Americans had never been exposed to. Native Americans’ bodies had no way to fight these new sicknesses and many died from malaria and smallpox. By the time of the 1855 Kalapuya Treaty, only 400-600 Kalapuya natives were still living. Most had died from diseases.

The 1855 Kalapuya Treaty was an agreement between the United States Government and Native Americans. The United States took the land of the Willamette Valley from the Native Americans in exchange for education, health care, and a section of land, called a reservation, where Native Americans were forced to live.

• The Beginnings of the Kalapuya People
  story by Ester Stutzman

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