Douglas Deur, ddeur@mail.pacifier.com.

The Contested Spaces of Iwamkani: The Resource Site as Cross-Cultural Locus

Iwamkani (literally "Huckleberry Mountain" in the Klamath language) sits in the southern Oregon Cascade Range, just west of Crater Lake. Before European resettlement, Iwamkani was the center of summertime resource harvesting activities to peoples of southwestern Oregon and northern California. Peoples converged every summer at multi-tribal encampment areas near Iwamkani’s subalpine summit, which served as a locus of inter-tribal social and economic activity. Women picked and processed huckleberries and other plant materials; men hunted and fished for salmon in the surrounding terrain. Berry patches and hunting meadows were maintained through burning and other methods. Iwamkani became a locus of cross-cultural interaction during the colonial period, manifesting the changing agendas of the white world. During the fur trade, tribal acquisition of horses and introduced technologies facilitated intensified resource use. During the era of enforced assimilation, Iwamkani became a refuge where children could still "learn how to be Indian." During the 20th century, indigenous harvesters were displaced by a growing white population and land management agencies with mandates that manifested the Western weltanschauung. The U.S. Forest Service, viewing Iwamkani as a resource to be exploited, logged, grazed cattle, and established public campgrounds atop tribal berrying sites; the National Park Service, viewing Huckleberry Mountain as untouched wilderness, forbade resource harvesting or management activities. Both mandates stultified indigenous resource use, and have reduced the material significance of Iwamkani while enhancing its symbolic significance among local tribes. This paper reviews the changing significance of Iwamkani, drawing from the author¹s archival, archaeological and ethnographic research.

Keywords: American Indians, Traditional Resource Use, Colonialism