Editing Clatsop (section)

==History==
The Chinookans at the mouth of the river were first mentioned by [[Robert Gray (sea captain)|Robert Gray]] and his first mate, [[John Boit]], who visited the area on May 18, 1792. Soon after on October 21, the [[Vancouver Expedition|Vancouver expedition]] visited the area, venturing past the [[Columbia Bar]].{{Sfn|Silverstein|1990|p=535}} The Vancouver expedition described a village at Point Adams, noting the presence of [[burial canoes]].{{Sfn|Vancouver|1801|p=89}}

The first major European account to describe the Clatsop was the account of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Lewis and Clark expedition]] in 1805. The expedition arrived in the fall and wintered in Youngs Bay.{{Sfn|Silverstein|1990|p=535}} The expedition named their last encampment [[Fort Clatsop]] after the tribe, whose nearest major village was approximately {{convert|7|mi|km}} away. According to the journals of [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]], the Clatsop comprised about 200 people living in three separate villages, with large [[plank house|longhouses]] constructed of [[Thuja plicata|cedar]] planks. Clatsop members regularly visited the fort to trade furs and other goods for European manufactured goods. The Clatsop shared [[salmon]], berries, and hunting tips with the [[Corps of Discovery]]. In contrast to the Corps' interactions with the [[Plains Indians]] the previous winter, their interaction with the Clatsop was more limited. The two groups did not mingle for social occasions, and the fort was opened to trading only 24 days during the winter. Part of the reason may have been that the coastal tribes had an existing relationship with [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British traders]]. The Clatsop and Chinook asked for higher prices from the American expedition for their goods at a time when the Corps' supply of "Indian gifts" had dwindled. Only two Clatsop, Coboway and Cuscalar, are regularly named in the Corps members' journals.{{Cn|date=August 2024}}

The arrival of European traders to the Columbia River in the early 19th century allowed the Clatsop and other downriver Chinookans to obtain trade goods otherwise locked behind the long inland trade routes controlled by the upriver Chinookans, their historic rivals.{{Sfn|Silverstein|1990|p=535}}

From the 1830s-1850s, Clatsop society began experiencing a rapid decline after smallpox, measles, malaria, and other diseases ravaged the Columbia River. As the fur trade had become less important to Americans, the Clatsop had to adapt to these quickly changing conditions. Villages were abandoned and populations consolidated together, as tribes began to attempt to negotiate with the American government.{{Sfn|Silverstein|1990|p=535}}

In an 1851 treaty, the Clatsop tribe proposed to cede 90 percent of their land to the U.S. Government. This treaty was one of many in the Northwest that was never ratified by [[United States Senate|Senate]]. Unlike other tribes, the members were not required to move to a reservation. They were one of the only tribes in Oregon that were not the focus of an organized effort to remove them from reservations.<ref>([[Anson Dart|Dart, Anson]]. ''Rolls of Certain Tribes in Oregon and Washington,'' Ye Galleon Press)</ref>{{pn|date=May 2020}}

By the late 19th century, traditional Clatsop society as it was at the beginning of the century was all but gone. Many Clatsop by this point had merged with their southern neighbors, the Tillamook, and adopted the Tillamook language.{{Sfn|Silverstein|1990|p=535}}