Surveys – 08 The Yolala

The Yolala

Two other tribes, The Takelm and Molala, occupied territories adjacent to Crater Lake, (Map 1) and could have visited the region, according to ethnographic sources. The Molala, or Molele (Gatschet 1890:xxxvi). “In former times … held all the northeastern slopes of the Willamet Valley, claiming possession of the hunting grounds …” Hardly anything is known about them, other than that they were hunters, and “people of the service-berry tracts.” They occupied the headwaters of the Rogue and Umpqua Rivers, perhaps as far west as Trail on the Rogue. Gatschet (1890:xxxvi) locates a Molala village at “Flounce Rock,” on the upper Rogue. The reasons for their occupation of this area has been the subject of some speculation (Berreman 1937; Ray and Others 1938: Spier 1927,); their presence in historic times is clearly recorded, and in post-reservation days, at least, they were apparently on amicable terms with the Klamath (Spier 1930:9).

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