Uncertain Encounters Indians and Whites at Peace and War in Southern Oregon, 1820s-1860s

A major contribution to the study of Indian-white relations in the Pacific Northwest, Uncertain Encounters provides a comprehensive view of relations in southern Oregon over a 50-year period beginning in the fur-trade era and ending with the Rogue River War and its aftermath. Nathan Douthit's meticulously researched study offers a complex view of Indian-white relations in the region. Rather than focus mainly on well-documented incidents of conflict and federal Indian policy as other historians have done, Douthit directs attention to peaceful interactions as well. He shows that in the years leading up to the Rogue River War, Indians and whites interacted with uncertainty, alternating between acts of friendship and hostility. Uncertain Encounters begins with a critical investigation of the Hudson's Bay Company's fur-trade relations with southern Oregon Indians, emphasizing its responsibility for Indian hostility. It turns next to exploration of the region by white Americans and to early