First timer? In this formerly once-a-day blog (now pretty much an every-other-day blog), I have my computer select a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.” I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location. To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is and what the various numbers and abbreviations mean), please see “About Landing,” (and “Abbreviations” and “Cryptic Numbers”) above.
Dan - Sigh. I’m settling in to a slump (0/4) with this landing in . . . OR; 70/61; 4/10; 2; 151.8. Enough of the Northwest already – my last three landings are OR, WA, OR. Here’s my landing map, showing my proximity to Maupin:
Here’s a broader view:
My GE shot shows I landed in a steep-walled stream valley (Finnegan Canyon by name):
Here’s an oblique GE shot to give you a better idea of the topography:
For the seventh time, I landed in the Deschutes R watershed; on to the Columbia (135th hit). The Deschutes flows right around Maupin; here’s a picture of Maupin (to the right) and the river:
From Wiki, about Howard Maupin:
Howard Maupin (1815–1878) was an American settler who established a farm and ferry in Oregon at the present-day location of Maupin, Oregon. He became famous for shooting the notorious Paiute war leader Chief Paulina on April 25, 1867 near the modern town of Madras, Oregon.
Chief Paulina (peculiar name, eh? I don’t think there was anything particularly feminine about him!) seems worthy of a little more research.
From Wiki:
Chief Paulina was a Northern Paiute war leader. During the late 1850s and 1860s, Northern Paiute bands attacked both settler communities and Native American reservations in central and eastern Oregon. Chief Paulina became the most notorious war leader in those raids. He was known for the swiftness of his attacks and his ability to evade capture by both volunteer regiments and U.S. Army detachments.
He led a small band (including his brother Wahveveh) that stole livestock and horses, causing fear within nearby communities. There has been some speculation that Paulina’s hatred for Caucasian settlers (and Indians living on reservations) occurred in April 1859 when Dr. Thomas Fitch led Native Americans from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to attack a band of Paiutes. The party killed ten Paiute warriors, capturing the women and children and the rest of the band. Among those captured were Paulina and Wahveveh, both of whom were later sent to Fort Dalles only to be imprisoned for a short time.
While predatory bands such as Paulina’s certainly profited from their attacks, they ultimately contributed to the climate of hostility that increased the level of violence and the death toll in the region. All the resident groups—settlers, native communities at Warm Springs and Umatilla, and the Northern Paiute—engaged in retaliatory actions that resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, including women and children.
Paulina and the other Paiute leaders agreed to sign a treaty in early 1865 after U.S. Army forces had captured a group of Paiute hostages late in the year before, including Paulina’s wife and son. Despite the treaty agreement, Paulina and his group went on with their normal ways.
On September 15, 1866, Paulina and his band of fourteen Paiutes attacked the ranch of James N. Clark near the junction of Bridge Creek and the John Day River. The raiders burned the house, stables and barn and stole two horses and a cow. Fortunately, Clark’s wife was visiting her parents in the Willamette Valley at the time, but an unarmed Clark and his 18-year-old brother-in-law were collecting driftwood on the John Day when they saw the Paiutes. Paulina and his band spotted them and gave chase, but Clark managed to escape. His brother-in-law hid in the river with only his nose out of the water for several hours undetected, although nearing hypothermia.
James Clark was able to gather a posse to try to salvage some of his stolen property. Seven months later, on April 25, 1867, Paulina was killed while eating a roasted ox during a retaliatory attack led by settlers Clark and Howard Maupin.
Quite the story – especially the part about the brother-in-law hiding in the river . . .
I’ll close with a couple of pretty pictures – first this, of a farm outside of Maupin with Mt. Hood in the background:
And this, of a sunset over the Deschutes at Maupin:
That’ll do it. . .
KS
Greg
© 2010 A Landing A Day
