The Estacada area’s banks and fertile valleys adjacent to the Clackamas River were seasonal Clackamas Indian settlements providing abundant fishing, hunting and berry harvesting for thousands of years. Estacada was sparsely settled by emigrants arriving on the Barlow Road segment of the Oregon Trail in the mid-to-late 1800s, unlike nearby Eagle Creek, which was a thriving community with a dance hall, saloons, a store, mills, schools and a post office.