With watery inhabitants such as ducks, beavers and salmon already appearing as mascots or titles in the state, two University graduate students have proposed the name Oregon itself comes from a Native American term for a fish species — and they’re gaining massive attention and credibility in the process.
Graduate anthropology students Scott Byram, 37, and David Lewis, 36, are working to debunk current theories that Oregon received its name from a mapmaker’s error or European roots in an article appearing this week in the Oregon Historical Quarterly.
Using written documents and oral history, the pair have found “ooligan,” a Cree Tribe reference to smelt, a small fish native to the Northwest that produces a nutritious grease. The Cree moved west to trade for ooligan and described it to English and French settlers when they made their way into the American and Canadian interior.
Lewis said many dialects switch or replace “l” and “r” sounds, and the Cree probably pronounced the word as “oorigan.”
Although previous explanations of Oregon’s birth have never been proven enough to satisfy historians, Lewis said the number of instances of ooligan found and the other Native American names in the area — like Willamette Valley — have convinced him of the name’s native origins.
“You can never, ever say ‘this is it,’ but the preponderance of evidence says this is the case,” he said.
Lewis and Byram teamed up last April after their individual work on Native American history began to converge, even though they previously knew each other from the anthropology department.
Byram said when the two started comparing notes, they both had instances of native words starting with “oor” or “ool.”
“We noticed the patterns as we worked on other projects,” Byram said. “It actually seemed pretty obvious once we looked at the evidence available.”
Marianne Keddington-Lang, editor of the Quarterly, said after the two submitted their findings, she sent their work to experts in the field for analysis, and they gave the piece glowing remarks.
Since their article premiered, Lewis said they have become minor celebrities, even fielding interviews from the British Broadcasting Corporation about their work. He has been surprised by the interest but is relishing the opportunity to highlight the other topics in their work that go beyond where Oregon got its name.
As a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, he wants to see Native American history taught starting in elementary school and give Native American students at every education level a chance to see that their people and history are essential portions of American history.
“I hope the people who follow me will write these histories and balance the perspective of what this land is,” he said.
Lewis added that he would also like to see the historical and anthropological fields give more credibility to oral history. Much of his and Byram’s research is based on tracing European and American written words back into Native American verbal accounts.
“Anthropology tends to say tribal history is simply folklore or myth,” Lewis said. “We’re saying tribal history is important — and historically important.”
Keddington-Lang said the extra issues involved helped the article make it into the Quarterly.
“It does make a lot of connections and goes beyond the origin of [the name of] Oregon,” she said.
Lewis said he and Byram are looking for funding to expand the article into a book not just about the name, but tribal history, linguistics, the Native American fishing trade and other issues that connect to current popular American history.
“In a sense, we share the same history,” Lewis said.
The full text of the article can be found online at ohs.org/publications/ohq/current_issue.htm.