Land Rights and Cultural Differences in Pacific Northwest History

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The Russians, Germans, French-Canadians, Scottish, British, Indians and Owyhee all had significant influence of natural resources that became commodities and the commercialization of those resources. Each of these groups of people had an interest in fur-trappings as their main commodity, but according to Jackson & Kimerling (2003), “Most of these northern Europeans groups were farming folk in search of good land, though the Germans were a diverse lot who found a variety of niches to fill” (p. 22). The Chinese settlers had exploited several different natural resources in the Pacific Northwest such as gold, iron-ore and the fish cannery industry. Much of the resources the Chinese settlers were used up in this order. With the increase in production and commercialization of natural resources came the rail line transportation industry. Longer stretches of rail cars increased the pay load and reaching limits of commodities. Jackson & Kimerling (2003) state:

Extraction of other minerals besides gold helped spur the growth of the region, and often, as in the case of coal, developed together with railroads. Black Diamond, Newcastle, and Roslyn were early Washington Coal mining towns, while Riddle, Oregon, became synonymous with nickel (p.22).

     Men were not the only ones to have an influence in the shaping the Pacific Northwest with the usage of natural resources as economic trade. Women also had a significant influence in economic trade of natural resources and commodities. Blair (2001) states “Certainly the first Europeans to visit the Pacific Northwest were impressed by coastal Indian women’s prowess as traders. Chinook women traded sea otter furs to the British and American sailors engaged in the China trade that began in the 1780’s” (p. 10).

Another result of increased immigrant settling, production and commercialization of natural resources was racial tension. According to Jackson & Kimerling (2003), “racial prejudice and war-time relocation disrupted the continuity of this particular geography, and a subsequent concentration of Japanese has occurred in Oregon’s Malheur County” (p. 23). As a result of increasing population’s usage of natural resources, many people had turn to non-agricultural ways to make a living. Alternatives to farming include mining and manual labor.