The Whitman Massacre

What caused the Whitman Massacre?  I believe it happened because the Cayuse believed Dr. Whitman was not healing them and deliberately poisoning them.  Dr. Whitman could heal many diseases, but when the Cayuse were exposed to small pox near the Oregon Trail, he could not heal them because he didn't know how to heal small pox.  The Cayuse had seen him healing white settlers, but he was not healing them.  They believed that either he had lost his healing powers or he was not curing them on purpose.  Also, the children in the Cayuse tribe would take the Whitmans' watermelons because the Natives shared everything with one another.  Dr. Whitman didn't appreciate this because he thought this was stealing, not sharing as the Cayuse believed.  He injected the watermelons with laxatives to teach the children a lesson, but when the laxatives kicked in, the Cayuse thought that Dr. Whitman was poisoning them.  I think that is what caused the Whitman Massacre.

Marcus Whitman

Narcissa Whitman

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Protestant and Roman Catholic Missionaries

Of the two missionaries that came to the Oregon Country, I believe the Roman Catholic missionary was the most successful.  According to Dale A. Lambert the Roman Catholic missions traveled among the Native American tribes instead of making them live in the area.  They also made their church services attractive to the Native Americans.  The Roman Catholic Missionaries didn't encourage people to immigrate into the region either, and their teaching methods were easier for the Natives to understand.  That is why the Roman Catholics were the most successful.

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Fur Trading Companies

I believe that the Pacific Fur Company was the most successful because, according to Stephenie Flora, the man who owned the company, John Aster, monopolized the fur trade.  This means that his business did the best because he put the other companies out of business.  According to Dale A. Lambert, Aster also set up Fort Astoria, the first outpost on the Pacific coast owned by Americans.



Fur trading companies sought out sea otters, foxes, and many other animals to make furs out of.

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Spring Break

The most interesting thing I did over spring break was have a sleepover.  Becca, Brittney, Makinzie, and Erin (the last two are my sister's friends) stayed the night and we had a ton of fun!  We played Left 4 Dead 2, arcade games, mini basketball, pool, darts, and many other games.  4:00 am was when half of us went to sleep, and the other half went to sleep at 6:00 am.  In the morning, we walked to HQ (Heights Elementary).  Brittney, Becca, Sophie (my sister), and I all have "second lives".  Brittney is Spawn, Becca is Ryan, Sophie is Sophitia, and I am Taki (they are all Soul Calibur characters).  Anyway, that is the most interesting thing I did over spring break.



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What Were They Looking For?

What were Spanish, British, Russian, and American explorers looking for when they voyaged to North America?  They were looking for several things.  According to Dale A. Lambert, one of them was more land to expand their territory.  The more land you own the better, right?  "They came to acquire land and establish new colonies," said Lambert.  Another reason other countries explored North America is because they wanted to claim the land for riches.  "Explorers came in search of gold, silver, and furs," Lambert said.  Last, some explorers came to North America to find the Northwest Passage.  According to Dale A. Lambert, "They sought adventure, exploration, and the Northwest Passage."

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Coastal Tribes or Plateau Tribes?

There were two types of tribes in Washington state; coastal tribes and plateau tribes.  If I had to live in one of them, I would live in a plateau tribe.

According to Dale A. Lambert, coastal tribes ate a lot of seafood because they lived near water all the time.  Plateau tribes mostly ate big game.  I can't stand seafood, and I'm more of a deer and elk kind of person.  I am also deathly afraid of big bodies of water, and coastal tribes lived very close to large bodies of water, while plateau tribes didn't.  Plateau tribes were also very active since they were always chasing animals so they could eat.  I am also pretty active, so their lifestyle fits me well.

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Native American Migration

Native Americans have to have gotten to North America somehow, and to get here, they would have to cross the Bering Strait.  The three main theories on how Native Americans got to what is now called Washington are that there was once a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska (land bridge theory), the Bering Strait was frozen and created an ice bridge (ice bridge theory), or the water was receded enough so that the continental shelves were exposed enough for the Native Americans to walk across (continental shelf theory).  I think that the most believable theory is that there was once a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska (land bridge theory).

According to Lambert's Washington: A State of Contrast, the ocean level was several hundred feet lower than it is now.  That means that there could potentially be a land mass hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean connecting Siberia and Alaska.  Scientists also discovered huts, fire pits, and ancient skeletons on the ocean floor in the Bering Strait.  That means that Native Americans were traveling across the land bridge in the Bering Strait thousands of years ago.

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