There were several Indian groups living in the area that was to become Gladstone. Lewis and Clark did not visit the Gladstone-Oregon City region, but did have it described to them by the native people. Later explorers and traders brought diseases and epidemics that took a very heavy toll on the native population and the tribes dwindled to near extinction.

When Oregon City was founded and people began moving to the area, they petitioned their governments to remove the local aboriginals from the land, so that europeon settlers could have land to farm and live on. The government responded by rounding up the Indians and forcing them to leave their lands for a reservation. With the natives removed from the scene, the Gladstone area was ripe for settling. Today the only visible remains of the native presence is a large tree called "The Pow Wow Tree." An Indian burial ground near that area is now covered over by a street and a number of houses.