Native Americans lived along the Rogue, or “Gelam” River for thousands of years.  The Takelma, or Da-Gel-Ma, translated to “those who live alongside the river,” lived near Bear Creek and the Rogue through Gold Hill and Grants Pass. There was a band of Takelma in the Upper Rogue called the “Ha-ne-sakh’s” or “rotten log people.”  Another band of Takelma lived along Galice Creek called the “Tal-tuc-tun-te-de.” The Tutuni lived in the lower reaches of the Rogue watershed.  Natives lived primarily on acorns, salmon, deer and camas. The Takelma regularly set fires to manage brush and to favor plant growth and deer forage.

The Rogue River was named by French trappers who fought with Native Americans on the river beginning in the 1820s.  The French called the tribes “les Coquins” (the Rogues). The river thus became known as “La Riviere aux Coquins” (the Rogue River).

Gold was discovered in 1851 and white settlers descended on the Rogue Valley, forcing natives onto a reservation at the base of Table Rock, near Medford. In October 1855, they broke free from the encampment and killed several white intruders. Native attacks against white settlers continued and extended downriver to Grave Creek. That winter the band of ‘Rogues’ hid out at what was later to be known as Battle Bar and Big Meadows. The next spring, soldiers sent to the area from Table Rock killed many Native Americans at the last battle of the “Rogue Indian War.” In 1856, survivors were marched north to the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations. The remains of a cabin and a plaque memorialize the site of the massacre.

Famed adventure author Zane Grey (1875-1939) purchased an old mining claim at Winkle Bar, where he went on to write several books. He celebrated the river in both fiction (The Rogue River Feud, 1929) and non-fiction (Tales of Freshwater Fishing, 1909). His cabin still stands today and is a popular attraction for river and wilderness visitors.