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LYMAN'S HISTORY

of

Old Walla Walla County

Emhracing

Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield
and Asotin Counties

By W^D.TYMAN, M. A., Lit. D.

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME I

CHICAGO

THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918

CONTENTS

I

PART I

THE COUNTY AND ITS EARLIEST STAGES

CHAPTER I

PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES, SOIL. CLIMATE, WATER-COURSES, AND
MOUNTAINS

CHAPTER n

THE NATIVE RACES OF OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY lO

CHAPTER HI

THE FIRST EXPLORERS AND THEIR ROUTES THROUGH THE REGION 32

CHAPTER I\'

THE FUR-TRADE AND FUR-TRADERS 4^

CHAPTER V

THE MISSIONARY PERIOD 57

CHAPTER VI

INDIAN WARS AND OPENING OF COUNTRY TO SETTLEMENT 83

PART II

SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I

THE PERMANENT ORGANIZATION OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY AND FOUNDING

OF THE CITY 'OQ

CHAPTER IT

TIMES OF COWBOYS, MINERS AND VIGILANTES 1 24

iii

•V CONTENTS

< UAPTF.R III

■ ■•I. HUM iiiMiitci III IIMK"! iiJl'NTV |i|\'l!>IUN'. . . I ^(j

iHAI'TER IV

IHk KARLY TRANSI-URTATIUN A' 1^:;

cnAKiKk \

IHKOfe,VELol-MhNT OK INUUSTKY IN OU> WALLA WALLA lOUNIV TO TIIK I-KRIUU

OF COUNTV DIVISION AMD APTKJtWAKDS IN THE PRKSHNT W\I.I.A WAIXA.. 175

CHAPTER \ !

INIELLECnUAI. AND KELtUIOUS FORCKS OF WAJ.l a woi » <X)UNTV ; KI»UCA-

TIONAL INSTITUTIONS OP WALLA WALLA. . 210

CHAPTER \li

rut I'Rh-SS UK WAI.I.A W'M-I.A COUNTY . . ... 257

CHAPTER VIII

WITH THK LAWYKRS, JUDGES AND IXJCTOR-S _«(i5

PART III

PERIOD OF COUNTY DIVISIONS

CHAPTER I

IXILITICAI. HISTORY t)F WAl.l^ WALLA COUNTY SINCK COUNTY DI\ I.MON .■S^

CM A ITER IF

DISTINCriVF. KK.\TUHF^ IN HISTORY OK COLUMBIA COUNTY.. ^19

CHAPTER III

i:ARKIK1J> I OUNTV J58

iIlAI'lI-.R IV

ASOTIN COUNTY

BIOORAPHICAL

V)5

CHAI'TI-.k \

I*IONF.FJt RKMINISCENCES 426

481

PART I '

THE COUNTY AND ITS EARLIEST STAGES

Old Walla Walla County

(Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and
Asotin Counties.)

CHAPTER I

PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES, SOIL, CLIMATE,
WATER-COURSES, AND MOUNTAINS

A land of scenic charm, of physical interest, of fertile soil and ample resources,
of climate in which living is a delight, of two great rivers and many impetuous
tributaries, of mountain chains with rich and varied hues and contours of stately
majesty, — such is the imperial domain included in that portion of the State of
Washington lying east of the Columbia River and south of the Snake. While
this region has distinctive physical features, it yet has a sufficient family resem-
blance to the other parts of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington to indicate
a common origin. We may therefore properly take first a general view of this
larger area. The greater part of the vast Inland Empire of Northeastern Oregon
and Eastern Washington consists of rolling prairies, sometimes fairly hilly, with
extensive "flats" in various parts, and low-lying, level valleys bordering the
numerous streams. These valleys are usually quite narrow, the three marked
exceptions being the broad valleys of the Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Yakima, the
two latter being outside of the scope of our story. The Inland Empire varies in
elevation above sea-level from about three hundred and fifty feet on the Columbia
River to about nine thousand at the highest summits of the Blue Mountains. The
larger part of the cultivated portions ranges from eight hundred to two thousand
feet. The variations in elevation have a remarkable effect on temperature and
rainfall, the former decreasing and the latter increasing very rapidly from the
lower to the higher levels. The atmosphere throughout this region is ordinarily
very clear, and the majestic sweep of the Blue Mountains and the wide expanses
of hills and dales and flats lie revealed in all their imposing grandeur with vivid
distinctness.

As there is a general physical similarity in the different parts of this entire
Columbia Basin, so has there been a common geological history. Broadly speak-
ing, the upper Columbia Basin from near Spokane on the north to Wallowa on
the south is volcanic in origin. The scope of this work does not permit any
detailed discussion of the geology of the region, but it is of interest to refer to the
fascinating little book of Prof. Thomas Condon, formerly of the Oregon State
University, on the "Two Islands." Professor Condon was the first systematic
student of the geology of the Northwest, and during his active career, extending

Vol. I— 1

2 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

from ahoul 1855 to i8<)0,he accumulated a large and valuable collection of fossil
remains as data from which to infer the stages in the geological history of the
.Northwest. One of his working hypotheses was that there were two islands as
the first lands in what is now the Northwest. These were the Blue Mountain
Island and the Siskiyou Mountain Island. Later geologists have not entirely
accepted all the details of Professor Condon's hypothesis, though they regard his
general reasoning as sound. It is generally believed now that there was a very
early uplift, possibly a third island, in what is now the Okanogan, Methow, and
Chelan highlands and mountains. At any rate, there is a general concurrence in
the opinion that the oldest land in this part of the continent was those very regions
where the two or perhaps three islands are supposed to have risen. The Chelan
region and thence a vast sweep northeast and then southeast toward Spokane
is of granite, andesite, and prophyry, the primeval crust of the earth. Again on
the south, the core of the Blue -Mountains, especially in the vicinity of Wallowa,
is limestone and granite. All these formations are very ancient. On the other
hand, the volcanic regions are comparatively recent, and those compose prac-
tically all the central parts. This area between those two ancient formations, the
part covering the four counties of our present story being in the very heart of
it, seems to have undergone almost every possible dynamic influence, fire, frost,
and flood. Apparently it W'as a deep basin between the earlier elevations and
was the scene of stupendous volcanic and seismic energy. Then it was covered
with water and for ages a great lake extended over much of what is now the Walla
Walla Valley and the valleys of its tributaries and the lower courses of the other
streams, as the Touchet and Tucanon. When the water had drained off, there
succeeded an age of ice and frost, with disintegration by cold and even some
glaciation. Probably there were several alternating eras of fire and frost and
flood. The Yakima Indians have a fantastic tale of the formation of these lakes
and from them the Columbia River, which may have some basis of scientific
fact. They say that in the times of the Watetash (animal people, before the
Indians) a monstrous beaver, Wishpoosh, inhabited Lake Kachees, now one of
the sources of the Yakima. Wishpoosh had the evil habit of chewing up and cut-
ting to pieces all the trees as well as other animals in his reach. Speelyi, the
chief God of the Mid-Columbia Indians, endeavored to make way with this
destructive monster, but succeeded only in wounding him severely and making
him so angry that he laid around him with furious energy and soon bur.st _the
rocky barriers of the lake. The water flowing out streamed over the country
and formed the Upper Yakima. The deluge was checked by the mountain ram-
parts of the Kittitas Valley, as we know it, and thus was formed a great lake
over all that valley. But the raging beaver finally tore out that barrier also and
the flood passed on into the Yakima \'alley, making another lake over the whole
region where Yakima now is, but it was stayed for a time by the ridge just below
the Atahnimi of the present. In like manner that barrier was torn out and the
accumulation of waters swept on to the vast level region w-here the Snake and
Columbia, with the lesser streams of the Yakima and Walla W'alla. unite. Thus,
a large part of the region which we shall describe in this history was a lake. But
the infuriated Wishpoosh was not yet content, and by successive burstings of
barriers the Walla \\'alla lake was emptied through the I'matilla highlands, then
the Cascade Mountains themselves were parted, and the chain of lakes was opened

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 3

to the ocean, the Columbia River itself being the connecting stream. Wishpoosh
having reached the ocean was making havoc among the whales and all other
objects of creation, when Speelyi at last pierced him to the heart and his monstrous
carcass was cast up on Clatsop Beach. There Speelyi cut him into fragments and
of him made the various Indian tribes.

Whatever may be the facts in regard to Wishpoosh, it is quite obvious that
considerable areas of the lower level parts of the Columbia basin and the tributary
valleys are lake beds. While the soil has all the indications of having been washed
from the hills and mountains and then settled in the lakes, it is plain also that it
was originally the product of fire. For the soil of this region is essentially vol-
canic. In the parts which have the larger rainfall, the decaying vegetation of
ages upon ages has covered the volcanic ash with a deep, rich loam. In other
places the action of glaciers grinding and dumping the triturated marls and clays
of the mountains has resulted in the deposit of heavy white and blue clays. In
yet other parts erosion of the volcanic rocks by wind and rain and frost, together
with the wash of the streams at flood stage, has left great beds of gravel. Through
successive strata of these varying materials there have burst at intervals new
volcanic eruptions. These in turn, worn away by sun and wind and frost and
stream, have been blown and washed over the earlier strata and have formed a new
blanket of the richest soil. This process of successive stages of volcanic outflow,
disintegration, wash deposit, glacial dumping, dust drift, growth and decay of
vegetation, has gone on through the ages. The result has been that tlie greater
part of the Inland Empire has a soil of extraordinary depth and fertility. Analysis
has shown that it possesses the ingredients for plant food to an unusual degree.
It is said to have an almost identical composition with the soil of Sicily. That fair
and fertile island was made by the volcanic matter blown out of Mount Etna,
covered by decayed vegetation and worked over by frost and sun and rain until
it l)ecame almost an ideal region for grain production. Two thousand years ago
Sicilian wheat-fields fed the hungry multitudes of Rome, and the same fields still

rv

roduce a generous quota of food products. Soil experts expect a similar histo
in this country.

In no part of the Columbia basin have the processes of soil creation been more
active than in the parts of the Old Walla Walla County of this history. Begin-
ning with the Columbia River on the west we find as soon as we have passed the
margin of river sand, which in a few places has encroached upon the customary
volcanic covering, that the soil, though dry, is susceptible of the highest cultiva-
tion and with water is capable of producing the finest products in the greatest
profusion. Almost every mile from the river eastward towards the mountains
seems to increase the blanket of loam upon the underlying volcanic dust, until
upon the foothills of the Blue Mountains there is a soil hard to match anywhere
in the world, a mingling of volcanic dust, loam, and clay, a strong and heavy soil,
not difficult to work, and retaining and utilizing moisture with remarkable natural
economy. Throughout this region the soil is of extraordinary depth and there
seems to be no limit to its productiveness. There is a cut forty feet deep through
a hill near Walla Walla, in which the same fertile soil goes down to the very bot-
tom. It is of lighter color when first opened to the light, but with exposure turns
darker and after a year or two of cultivation possesses the same friability and
productiveness as the top soil. Wells have been bored in the Eureka Flat region

4 uLD \\.\Li..\ WALLA COL'XTV

wlicrc over a liundrcd ieci of soil luvc bwn pierced without the drilU even
iuiichin{; ruck. In such soils the process of suh-soiliit); can go on almost in-
Ucliiiilcly with cun(inuou> preservation aiul rriirwal of iiroductivrness.

The cliniatc of the region covered in this work has the general cliaractcr of
that of the Inland Knipire as a whole. .\s conijwred with the |>ortions of Urcgon
and Washington west of the Cascade Mountains, the climate of our section is
drier and has the seasons more distinctly marked, holler in summer and colder in
winter. The average yearly tem|>craturc is, however, higher than that of the sea-
coast, and much higher than that of the Atlantic states of the same latitude, 'llic
average of Walla Walla is about that of Virginia, though in the latitude of
Wisconsin and Maine. On account of lower altitude the climate of the greater
I>art of this section, esi<ecially the |>ortions on the large ri\ers, all the way from
Asotin to Walhila, is wanner than that of the yarts of the state north of Snake
River. The weather reports of Walla Walla ordinarily run from four to eight
dignes higlur than those of S|X)kane. The spring season ojK'ns from two to four
weeks earlier than at SjKjkanc or Colfax and the difference is even greater com-
pared with Pullman.

Perhaps no part of the Inland Empire, unless it be the Horse Heaven and
Rattlesnake Mountain section of Henton County, is so peculiarly the native home
of that most dramatic atnuis])lKTic phenomenon, the Chinook wind. Scarcely can
anything more interesting he imagined than that warm winter wind. No wonder
that the native red man, with his sujx-rstitious awe of Nature's tokens of love
or wrath, idealized this heavenly visitant, oiK?ning the gates of summer in mid-
winter chill and gloom and wooing the flowers from their dark aljodes even
while the heavy snows still crown the mountain peaks and pile the timlx;red flanks
(>{ the hills with their frozen burdens. A long wintry period, two or three or
four weeks in January or I'ebruary, may have sent the great blocks of ice down
the big rivers, there may be a foot of snow ujwn the plains and much more in the
mountains and the breath of the north may wrap all Nature in chill and gloom,
when suddenly some afterntKin the frozen fog will lift, a blue-black band will \>c
visible along the southern horizon, the white tops of the mountains will Inrgin to
be streaked with dark lines, there seems to thrill through the atmosphere a certain
rustic of ex|>ectancy, night droi>s with a rising tem|Rrature, during the night the
snow begins to slip from the trees and slide off the roofs, and with the morning,
rushing and roaring, here comes the blessed Cliinook, fragrant with the bloom of
the south, turning the snow and ice into singing streams, calling the robins from
their winter retreats, and bidding the buttercups push from their heads the crust
of winter and oin-n their golden jK-tals to greet the sun. The Klickitat myth is to
the effect that there were originally two sets of brothers, one of the Walla Wallas
from the north, the other the C"hinooks from the south. The fathers of the two
lived with their resptvtive sons ujion the shore of the Columbia near the present
I'matilla. The Walla Wallas were the cfild wind brothers, coming down the river
from the north, freezing the streams and whirling the dust in vast clouds. /\t
one time thev challenge<l the Chinook brothers to a wrestling match and threw
them all and killed them. The chilly brothers had it all their own way for a
long time after that, and they made the lives of the poor old father and mother of
the vancjuished Chinooks a burden. No sooner would the old man go otii in his
canoe to fish than the implaciM.- Willi Wall.i brnthrrs would blow with their

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 5

icy breath, crusting the water with ice and compelling the old man to hurry
half frozen to the shore. But a deliverer was at hand, for one of the fallen
Chinooks had left a son. His mother had taken him to the lower river, and there
he had grown up with only the one thought of avenging his father and uncles.
When he had become grown and so strong that he could pull up huge fir trees and
toss them around like straws, he felt that his time had come. Going up the river
he slept one night near the stream now called the Satus, and a curious depression
in the hills can be seen there now which the Indians say was his sleeping place.
After his night's rest he went on to the home of his grandparents. He found
them in a most deplorable state, half-starved and half-frozen. Young Chinook
washed the grime and filth from the old folks and from it came all the trout
now found in this region. Then transforming himself into a little creature he
crawled into the stern of his grandfather's boat and bade the old man put forth
for fish. At once the hateful Walla Wallas swept down from the north to blow
on the old man, but for some mysterious reason could never reach him. Striving
desperately in vain they saw the explanation when suddenly Chinook rose to
giant size and challenged them to wrestle. The God Speelyi now appeared to
judge the combat. One after another the cold wind brothers were thrown.
Chinook, more merciful than they had been, did not kill them. But Speelyei
declared that they should henceforth lose their power and could blow only at very
rare intervals and that Chinook should be the lord of the land. However, Speelyi
decreed that he should blow on the mountain peaks first as a token that he was
coming.

The meteorologists tell us that the Chinook wind is not, properly speaking, an
ocean wind, though when there is a Chinook in the interior there is a warm wind
with rain on the coast. They say that the Chinook is due to dynamic heating or
atmospheric friction. When there is a low barometer on the coast and a high over
Nevada and Utah, as is very common in winter, the high pressure will descend
upon the low and raise the temperature at a regular rate of about seven degrees
to a thousand feet of descent. This accounts for the fact that the Chinook
strikes the mountains sooner than the valleys. During the prevalence of a
Chinook, as shown by the weather reports, the thermometer will usually be higher
at Walla Walla than at Portland or Astoria. It has been as high as seventy
degrees in January during a big Chinook. As can be imagined, snow will vanish
like a dream under a wind of such temperature, or even one at fifty degrees or
fifty-five degrees, which is more common.

A few general statistics as to the average records at Walla Walla may be of
interest. The average annual temperature as shown by official records during
thirty-one years is fifty-three degrees. The average for January is thirty-three
degrees ; for July and August, seventy-four degrees. The lowest ever recorded
was seventeen degrees below zero, and the highest was 113 degrees. The average
rainfall is 17.4 inches. The average date of the last killing frost of spring is
March 30th, and the first of autumn is Novemljer 7th. The average number of
clear or mainly clear days is 262, of cloudy is 103. The prevailing wind is always
from the south, and the highest velocity ever recorded was sixty-five miles per
hour. There is an average of eight thunder showers in a year. The other parts
of the four counties included in this history have essentially the same climate as
Walla Walla. There is. however, a regular decrease of temperature and an in-

6 OLD \\'ALT..\ WALLA COUNTY

crease of rainfall from the west to east. Recent records of the Weather Observer
at Walla Walla, giving a comparison of \arious stations, show extraordinary dif-
ferences in rainfall according to elevation and proximity to the mountains. Thus,
the average precipitation, including melted snow, for some years past, has been
at Kennewick, 6.46 inches; at Lowden, 11. 18; at Eureka, 14.35; at Walla Walla,
^7-37 '• at Milton, 19.50; at Dayton, 22.14; ^"d at the "intake," only fourteen
miles from Walla Walla, but at an elevation of twenty-five hundred feet (Walla
Walla being nine hundred and twenty), and at the entrance to the mountains, it
was, in 1916, 47.93. The natural rainfall is sufficient for all the staple grains
and fruits in all parts except the areas in the west and north bordering the
Columbia and Snake rivers. In those semi-arid tracts irrigation is necessary, and
the same means of artificial moisture is practiced for a succession of vegetables
and small fruits and alfalfa in considerable parts of the other valley lands. One
of the interesting and important features of Walla Walla is the fine system of
spouting artesian wells. There are now over thirty of these wells in the Walla
Walla ^'alley, the largest having a flow of twenty-five hundred gallons per minute,
sufficient to irrigate a half section of land. Owing to the immense snowfall on
the Blue Mountains, ranging from ten to fifty or sixty feet during the season,
a large part of the slopes and valleys below seems to be sub-irrigated and also to
be underlaid by a great sheet of water. Hence it seems reasonable to expect
that artesian w-ater will be found in other places. In general it may be said that
the climate of the sections considered in this work is eminently conducive to
health, wealth, and comfort. It is a happy medium between the extreme dryness
of the Great Plateau and the extreme humidity of Western Washington ; as also
between the rather mugg)- and enervating climate of the South and the biting cold
of winter and prostrating heat of summer of the belt of northern states east of
the Rocky Mountains. If we may judge by a comparison of the native races, as
well as by the "bunch-grass" horses and cattle, the "bunch-grass" boys and girls
will be on the road to becoming superior specimens of humanity. Thus far there
is too much of a mixture of the human stock to make scientific comparisons.

Old Walla Walla County shares with other parts of Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, the distinction of joint ownership of one
of the sublimest systems of waterways on the globe. This system consists of the
Columbia and its tributaries. The Columbia itself washes the western verge of
Walla Walla County for a distance of only about sixteen miles. Yet, in this short
distance the great stream sustains its reputation as belonging in the front rank of
scenic rivers. Although the region around the junction of the blue, majestic
Columbia and the turbid and impetuous Snake is regarded as a desert in its native
condition, yet on one of the bright, still days of spring or autumn views of such
grandeur looking either up or down can be obtained that no appreciative observer
would ever say "desert." The azure and gold and russet and purple that play
upon the mountains and islands looking up river, or upon the Wallula Gateway
looking down, with the mile-wide majesty of the river in the midst, must be seen
to be understood. Xo words of description can do justice to those scenes.

An inspection of the map will show that Snake River touches a much larger
rim than the greater stream. For it borders each one of the four counties, for a
total distance of about a hundred and fifty miles. For this entire space Snake
River is swift and turbid, having an average fall of about three feet to the mile.

X

d

•y,

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 7

Nevertheless, it is navigable the whole distance during six or eight months in the
year. The immense volume of these two big rivers is not generally understood by
strangers. The Columbia is less than half as long as the Mississippi, yet it is but
slightly inferior in volume to the "Farther of Waters," and far surpasses any
other river in the United States. Its maximum flood stage at Celilo in the flood
of 1894, the greatest on record, was estimated at one million six hundred thousand
second feet, while the maximum of the Snake, just above its mouth, was about'
four hundred thousand. We shall have occasion later to speak of the steamer
traffic upon these rivers and the improvements, past and prospective, by the
Federal Government. Suffice it to say here that as that phase of early history was
among the most important, so it is plain that the future will bring on a new era
of water-borne traffic, and that with it will come a new era of production. Nearly
all the tributaries of the two big rivers flow from the snow banks and the canons
of the Blue Mountains. Though conveying in the aggregate during the flood
season an immense volume, the tributaries are too swift for navigation. They
supply abundant water for irrigation where needed, and each is a superb trout
stream. The largest, the Grande Ronde, is in truth an Oregon river, for its main
supplies come from the Grande Ronde and Wallowa valleys, but it crosses the
corner of Asotin County and enters Snake River within that scenic country. The
Grande Ronde is a powerful stream and for varied scenes of wild grandeur and
gentle beauty, it is not easily matched. The Wallowa Basin (the "Far Wayleway"
of Longfellow's Evangeline) is sometimes called the Switzerland of the Inland
Empire. Of the historic interest of that region which thus finds its exit through
one of the counties of Old Walla Walla-, ■we^'SlTaTTsTpeaic again. The next affluent
of the Snake River below the Grande: Rcmd$.^.Asotip.^Cii¥ek, a small stream and
yet one of the busiest and most usefii!,' -fof it'is the source of the water supply
of that fair and productive region afounji.C-la:rkft"t)K;-and extending thence to
Asotin City. Some distance below Clackst9n'i$JJi«^rAlpo\v'a;also a historic stream.
Yet another stage and about half way between the Grande Ronde and the mouth
of Snake River we find one of the most charming in appearance as well as most
attractive to the fishermen of all the Blue Mountain streams, the Tucanon. This
also is invested with historic interest, as we shall see later.- Below the mouth of
the Tucanon the previously lofty, almost mountainous, shores of Snake River
rapidly drop away and the vast expanse of arid plain stretches away toward the
crests of the Blue Mountains. No more tributaries of the Snake River enter,
and with another stage that most interesting point in the history of this turbulent
and historic river is reached — its mouth, and its individuality is lost in the mighty
sweep of the Columbia. A few miles below the junction the most historic and in
some respects most beautiful of the small tributaries of the Columbia streams
in through the verdant meadow and overhanging willows, the Walla Walla.
The events which have made the place of entrance, as well as many other places
on the course of this stream famous in the history of the Northwest, will become
manifest as our story proceeds.

In the great semicircle of one hundred and fifty miles in which Snake River
borders our four counties, there are frequent profound canons through which the
snow-crested mountains from which the streams issue can be seen. The observer
who has made that long journey and reaches the open prairie at the mouth oi
the Snake will behold with wonder and delight the distant chain, all in one

8 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

splendid picture, of which he had before seen broken ghmpses through the rifted
canon walls or u]) the sources of the foaming creeks. But whether in broken
glimpses or in their grand unity, the Blue Mountains possess a unique charm and
individuality. While not so bold and aiguillated as the Cascades, and while there
are no peaks standing in lonely sublimity to compel the vision of the traveller,
like Mount "Takhoma" or Mount Adams or Mount Hood, the Blue Mountains
are not inferior in many of the features of mountain charm to their greater
brothers. The marvelous coloring is perhaps the most distinctive of these features.
While most mountains are blue, these are blue blue. They are all shades of
blue, according to the hour and the month and the season — blue, indigo, ultra-
marine, violet, purple, amethyst, lapis lazuli, everything that one can think of to
denote variations of blueness. "Blue Mountain" is a real name. The French
voyageurs of the fur-traders were the first to note the characteristic blue, and
according to Ross Cox, began at once to say, "Les Montagues Bleiics." Another
characteristic feature of these mountains is the fact that they do not so much con-
stitute a range or chain, like the long, narrow, regular Cascade Range, as a huge
mass with prongs radiating from something like a central axis which might be
considered the great granite and limestone knot of peaks about Wallowa Lake, of
which Eagle Cap is the loftiest, over nine thousand feet in elevation. On account
of this ganglionic structure there are many radiating canons from the long ridges
and plateaus to the lower levels. The views from the open ridges and rounded
summits down these canons constitute a scenic gallery of contours and colorings
which may challenge comparison with even the views of the loftier and bolder
Cascades.

The value of the Blue Mountains in condensing the moisture of the atmosphere
and dropping it upon the plains below in rain and snow can hardly be conceived
unless we reflect that without this vast reservoir of salvation to all growing things
the Inland Empire would be a desert. Nor could it even be irrigated, for in the
absence of the Blue Mountains there would be no available streams for distribu-
tion. Wonderful indeed is it to consider how the ardent sun of the Pacific lifts
the inconceivable masses of invisible vapor from the ocean and the west wind
carries them inland. -The coast mountains constitute the first condenser of that
vapor, and almost constant rain during half the year with a predominance of
clouds and fogs at all times prevails along the ocean margin of Oregon and Wash-
ington. The Cascade Range lifts its stupendous domes and sentinel-like cliffs
to catch the vapor that still sweeps inland and to feed the greedy rootlets of their
interminable forests and to clothe the heights with perpetual snow and ice. But
those vast demands fail to exhaust the limitless resources of the sky, and there
are yet remaining infinite treasures of moisture floating eastward. And so the
next great suppliant for the vital nourishment of all life stands with uplifted,
appealing hands, our wide-extended and clustered uplift of the Blues. Nor do
they appeal in vain, as the fertile prairies and benches with their millions of
bushels of grain and their far-reaching cattle ranges and their orchard valleys and
their countless springs can testify.

Whether from the standpoint of the forester or the farmer or the stockman
or the gardener or the orchardist or the fisherman or the artist or the poet, the
Blue Mountains constitute one of the great vital working facts, the very frame-
work of the life of Old Walla Walla County. We shall discover that they are not

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 9

simply a picture gallery, but that the history of this region is fairly set within this
stately frame.

' With these necessarily hurried and fragmentary glances at the physical scene
of the story, we shall be prepared to bring the human characters upon the stage.

CHAPTER II
THE NATIVE RACES OF OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

Any history of any part of America would be incomplete without some view
of the aborigines. Such a view is due to them, as well as to the accuracy of state-
ment and the philosophical perspectives of history. Such a view is required also by
justice to the natives themselves. The ever westward movement of American
settlement has been marked by trails of blood and fire. Warfare has set its red
stains upon nearly every region wrested from barbarism to civilization. This has
been in many cases due to flagrant wrong, greed, and lust by the civilized man.
It has been due also to savage cruelty by the barbarian. Perhaps more than to
wrong by either party, it has been due to that great, unexplained and unexplain-
able tragedy of human history, the inability of either party to comprehend the
viewpoint of the other. And yet, most of all, it has been due to that inevitable
and remorseless evolution of all life by which one race of plants, animals, and
human beings progresses by the extermination of others. Perhaps the phil-
osophical mind, while viewing with pity the sufferings and with reprobation the
crimes and irrational treatment forced upon the natives by the civilized race,
and while viewing with equal horror the atrocities by which the losers in the
inevitable struggle sought to maintain themselves — if to such a philosophical mind
comes the question who was to blame for all this seemingly needless woe — must
answer that the universe is mainly to blame, and we have not yet reached the
point to explain the universe.

We have found in the preceding chapter and shall find in succeeding chapters
frequent occasion to refer to events in connection with Indians. Our aim in this
chapter is rather to give an outline of locations of dififerent tribes, to sketch briefly
some of their traits as illustrated in their myths and customs, and to state the
chief published sources of our knowledge in regard to these myths and customs.
The history of Indian wars, which also includes other incidental matter about
them, will be found in the last chapter of Part One of this volume.

The literature of Indian life is \-oluminous. Practically all the early explorers
from Lewis and Clark down devoted large space to the natives. The pioneer
settlers knew them individually and some of them derived much matter of gen-
eral value which has been preserved in brief newspaper articles or handed down
in story and tradition. Out of this vast mass a few writers have formed groups
of topics which serve well for those generalizations which a bird's-eye view like
this must be content to take. Foremost among the writers dealing with the subject
in a large way is Hubert Howe Bancroft. Although his great work on the history
of the Pacific Coast has been severely and sometimes justly censured, yet it must
be granted that, as a vast compendium of matter dealing with the subject, it is
monumental and can be turned to with confidence in the authenticity of its sources

10

HUMISHUMA. OR MORNING UO\E, A WOilAN OF THE OKANOGAN TRIBE

Her deerskin robe, decorated with beads, elk teetli and grizzly-bear claws, is worth over one

thousaiul dollars

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 11

and in the general accuracy of its statements of fact, even if not always in the
breadth of its opinions or the reliability of its judgments.

In \^olume One, Chapter Three, of Bancroft's "Native Races," there is a
generalized grouping of the Columbian native tribes which may well be accepted
as a study of ethnology, derived from many observations and records by those
early explorers most worthy of credence. These general outlines by the author
are supported by numerous citations from those authorities. The Columbians
occupied, according to Bancroft, all the vast region west of the Rocky Mountains
lying between the Hyperboreans on the north and the Californians on the south.
They are divided into certain families and these families into nations, and the
nations into tribes. There is naturally much inter-tribal mingling, and yet the
national and even tribal peculiarities are preserved with remarkable distinctness.
Beginning on the northern coast region around Queen Charlotte Island are the
Haidahs. South of them on the coast comes the family of the Nootkas, centered
on \'ancouver Island. Then comes the family of the Sound Indians, and still
farther south that of the Chinooks. Turning to the east side of the Cascades,
which more especially interests us, we find on the north the Shushwap family,
embracing all the inland tribes of British Columbia south of lat. 52°, 30'. This
group includes the Okanogans, Kootenais, and others of the border between
British Columbia and Northeastern Washington and Northern Idaho and North-
western Montana. Then comes the Salish family, in which we find the Spokanes,
Flatheads, Pend Oreilles, Kalispels, and others as far south as the Palouse region.
There we begin with the family of Sahaptins, the one which particularly concerns
us in Old Walla \\'alla County. Numerous citations in Bancroft's volume indicate
that the early explorers and ethnologists did^jiQt.. altogether agree on the sub-
divisions of this family. It would jSeeMOf-thaS^'fl'tt 'Ijvoups have been somewhat
arbitrarily made, yet there was evid^n-flj^ .<;«»$tderaWe effort to employ scientific
methods by study of affiliations in language, custoi]^ ^treaty relations, range, and
other peculiarities. In general terms it fnay be said '-that- the different writers
pretty nearly agree in finding some six or eight nations, each divided into several
tribes. These are the Nez Perces or Chopunriish, the Yakimas, the Palouses, the
Walla Wallas, the Cayuses, the L'matillas, the Wascos. and the Klickitats. The
tribes are variously grouped. The modern spelling appears in the above list, but
there is a bewildering variety in the early books. This is especially true of Palouse
and Walla Walla. The former appears under the following forms : Palouse,
Paloose, Palus, Peloose, Pelouse, Pavilion, Pavion and Peluse. The word means
"Gooseberry," according to Thomas Beall of Lewiston. Our familiar Walla Walla,
meaning, according to "Old Bones," the Cayuse chief, the place where the four
creeV-^ meet, the Walla Walla, Touchet, Mill Creek, and Dry Creek, appears as
Ott'llla-Oualla (French), Walla Wallapum, Wollow Wollah, Wollaolla, Wolla-
walla, Wallawaltz, Walla Walle, Wallah Wallah. Wallahwallah, Wala-
Wala, and Wollahwollah. For Umatilla we find Umatallow, Utalla, Utilla, and
Emmatilly. Cayuse has as variants, Cailloux, Kayuse, Kayouse, Skyuse, Cajouse.
Caagua, Kyoose, and Kyoots. Doctor Whitman's station, now known as Waiilatpu,
appears in sundrj' forms, as Wyeilat, Willetpu, Wailatpui, and Wieletpoo. Some
odd names are found in Hunt, "Nouvelles Annales des Voyages," where it is
stated that the Sciatogas and Toustchipas live on Canoe River (apparently the
Tucanon), and the Euotalla (perhaps the Touchet), and the Akaitchis "sur le

12 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

Big-River," i. e., the Columbia. The tribe at the junction of the Columbia and
Snake was the Sokulks, apparently a branch of the Walla Wallas. It would
seem that the Cayuses occupied mainly the middle Walla Walla region including
Mill Creek, the Umatilla, the upper Walla Walla, and across the high lands to the
Umatilla River, while the Walla \\'allas were from the vicinity of the junction
of Dry Creek, the Touchet, and the Walla Walla River to its mouth. It appears
that the most of the region now composing Columbia, Garfield, and -Asotin
counties was occupied by Nez Perces. All the tribes were more or less on the
move all the time, to mountains, plains, and rivers, according to the season and
variations in the food supply. The Sahaptin family seem to have been in general
of the best grade of Indians. Lewis and Clark found the Nez Perces a
noble, dignified and honest race, though they say that they were close and reserved
in bargaining. Generally speaking, the inland Indians were far superior in
physique and in mental cajiacity to those of the .Sound or the lower Columbia.
Townsend in his "Narrative" goes so far as to say that the Nez Perces and Cayuses
were almost universally fine-looking, robust men. He compares one of the latter
with the Apollo Belvedere. Gairdner says that the Walla Wallas were generally
powerful men, at least six feet high, and the Cayuses were still stouter and more
athletic. Others remarked that very handsome young girls were often seen among
the Walla Wallas. With them doubtless, as with other Indians, the drudgery of
their lives and their early child-bearing made them prematurely old and they soon
lost their beauty.

There seems to have been much variation among these natives as to personal
habits and morality. The Nez Perces and Cayuses are almost always described as
clean, both of body and character. Palmer in his "Journal," says that the Nez
Perces were better clad than any others, the Cayuses well clothed, Walla Wallas
naked and half-star\'ed. The last statement seems not to corresp)ond with the
observations of Lewis and Clark. Wilkes says that "at the Dalles women go
nearly naked, for they wear little else than what may be termed a breech-cloth, of
buckskin, which is black and filthy with dirt." About the same seems to have
been true of the Sokulks. But among the Tushepaws and Nez Perces and Cayuses
the men and women often wore long robes of buffalo or elk-skin decorated with
beads and sea-shells. Famham speaks of the Cayuses as the "Imperial tribe of
Oregon, claiming jurisdiction over the whole Columbia region."

The chief wealth of the tribes of Old Walla Walla County was in horses.
Doctor Tolmie expressed the supposition that horses had come from the south-
ward at no very long time prior to white discovery. It is w-ell known that a pre-
historic horse, the hipparion, not larger than a deer, existed in Oregon. Remains
of that creature have been found in the John Day Basin. But there is no evidence
that there was a native horse among the Indians of Oregon. Their "Cayuse
horses," to all indications, came from the horses of California, and they in turn
were the ofTspring of the horses brought to Mexico and Southern California by
the Spanish conquerors. At the time of the advent of the whites, horses existed
in immense numbers all through the Columbia Valley. It was not uncommon for
a Walla Walla, Umatilla, Cayuse, or Nez Perce chief to have bands of hundreds,
even thousands. Canoes were a highly esteemed possession of the Indians on the
navigable rivers, and they had acquirefl marvelous skill in handling them. The

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 13

lower Columbia Indians spent so much time curled up in canoes that they were
distorted and inferior in physique to the "bunch-grass Indians."

Like all barbarian people the Indians of the Columbia Valley were next door
to starvation a good part of the time. They gorged themselves when food was
plentiful, and thus were in distress when the bounty of Nature failed, for there
was no accumulated store as under civilized conditions. Their food consisted of
deer, elk, and other game, in which the whole Blue Mountain country with the
adjoining plains abounded, and of salmon and sturgeon which they obtained in
the Columbia and Snake rivers by spearing and by ingenious weirs. They also
obtained an abundance of vegetable food from the camas and couse which were
common, and in fact still are in this region. Rather curiously, considering the
fertility of this Walla Walla County, there are very few wild berries, nuts, or
fruits. The huckleberry is practically the only berr)' in large quantities and wild
cherries the only kind of wild fruit.

Such were the physical conditions, hastily sketched, of the natives of Old
Walla Walla County. Their mental and moral characteristics may be derived in a
degree from the events narrated in the pages which follow. In their best estate
they were faithful, patient, hospitable, and generous. In their worst estate, in
which the whites more usually found them, they seemed vindictive, suspicious,
cruel, and remorseless. Too many cases of the former type occurred to justify
any sweeping condemnation. One of the finest examples of Indian character in
its better light is shown by an event in this region narrated by Ross Cox in his
"Adventures on the Columbia River." The party of trappers of the North-
western Fur Company, of which Cox was one, was on its way from Astoria to
"Oakinagan," as he calls it — a company of sixty-four in eight canoes. When
at a point in the Columbia about equidistant between the mouth of the "Wallah
Wallah" and that of the Lewis (Snake), a number of canoes filled with natives
bore down upon their squadron, apparently without hostile design. But within
a few minutes the Indians evinced the purpose of seizing the canoes of the whites
and plundering them by violence. It was soon give and take, and arrows began
to fly. Pretty soon one of the company, McDonald, seeing an Indian just at
the point of letting fly an arrow at him, fired and killed the Indian. A struggle
ensued, but the whites broke loose and defended themselves sufficiently to reach
an island, which must have been the one nearly opposite the present Two Rivers.
It was a gloomy prospect. Cox says that they had pretty nearly given up hope
of escaping, and had written farewell notes which they hoped might reach their
friends. It was a dark, gloomy night in November, with a drizzling rain. Dur-
ing the night the party saw signal fires on the shore to the northwest, followed
by others to east and west. Soon after a large band of ravens passed over, the
fluttering of whose wings they could hear. This had a most depressing efifect on
the superstitious Canadians, and one of them declared that the appearance of
ravens at night was an infallible sign of approaching death. Mr. Keith, one of
the Scotchmen, seeing the gloomy state of their minds and wishing to forestall
the efifect, instantly joined the conversation, declaring that while there was such
a general fear of a night flight of ravens, yet it never worked disaster unless
the flight was accompanied by croaking. But when ravens passed over without
croaking, they were a harbinger of good news. Much relieved, the Canadians
regained their nerve and shouted out, "you are right, you are right ! Courage !

14 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

There is no danger !'' The beleaguered band on their dismal retreat waited for
the dawn, making all preparations for resistance to the death. Early in the morn-
ing the party crossed to the north bank of the river, and there waited develop-
ments. A large force of Indians soon appeared, well armed, and yet ready for
a parley. The whites sent forward their interpreter, Michel, to indicate their
willingness to parley. A group of thirty or forty of the relatives of the dead
Indians advanced chanting a death song, which, as tiicy afterwards learned, was
about as follows: "Rest, brothers, rest! You will be avenged. The tears of
your widows shall cease to flow, when they behold the blood of your murderers;
and your young children shall leap and sing with joy, on seeing their scalps. Rest,
brothers, in peace; we shall have blood."

The events which followed this lugubrious song cannot be better told than by
following the vivid narrative of Cox:

. "They took up their position in the center; and the whole party then formed
themselves into an extended crescent. Among them were natives of the Chim-
napum, Yackaman, Sokulk, and ^^'allah Wallah tribes. Their language is nearly
the same ; but they are under separate chiefs, and in time of war always ttnite
against the Shoshone or Snake Indians, a powerful nation, who inhabit the plains
to the southward.

"From Chili to Athabasca, and from Nootka to the Labrador, there is an
indescribable coldness about an American savage that checks familiarity. He is
a stranger to our hopes, our fears, our joys, or our sorrows ; his eyes are seldom
moistened by a tear, or his features relaxed by a smile ; and whether he basks
beneath a vertical sun on the burning plains of the Amazonia, or freezes in eternal
winter on the ice-bound shores of the Arctic Ocean, the same piercing black
eyes, and stern immobility of countenance, equally set at naught the skill of the
physiognomist.

"On the present occasion, their painted skin, cut hair, and naked bodies,
imparted to their appearance a degree of ferocity from which we boded no good
result. They remained stationary for some time and preserved a profound
silence.

"Messrs. Keith, Stewart, LaRocque. and the interpreter, at length advanced
about midway between both parties unarmed, and demanded to speak with them;
upon which two chiefs, accompanied by six of the mourners, proceeded to join
them. Mr. Keith offered them the calumet of peace, which they refused to
accept, in a manner at once cold and rejnilsive.

"Michel was thereupon ordered to tell them that, as we had always been on
good terms with them, we regretted much that the late unfortunate circumstance
had occurred to disturb our friendly intercourse; but that as we were anxious
to restore harmony, and to forget what had passed, we were now willing to
compensate the relations of the deceased for the loss they had sustained.

"They inquired what kind of compensation was intended; and on being in-
formed that it consisted of two suits of chief's clothes, with blankets, tobacco,
and ornaments for the women, etc., it was indignantly refused ; and their spokes-
man stated that no discussion cotild be entered into until two white men (one
of whom should be the big red-headed chief) were delivered to them to be
sacrificed, according to their law, to the spirits of the departed warriors.

"Every eye turned on McDonald, who on hearing the demand, 'grinned hor-

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 15

ribly a ghastly smile' ; and who, but for our interposition, would on the spot have
chastised the insolence of the speaker. The men were horrified, and 'fear and
trembling' became visible in their countenances, until Mr. Keith, who had observed
these symptoms of terror, promptly restored their confidence, by telling them that
such an ignominious demand should never be complied with.

"He then addressed the Indians in a calm, firm voice, and told them that
no consideration whatever should induce him to deliver a white man to their
vengeance; that they had Ijeen the original aggressors, and in their unjustifiable
attempt to seize by force our property, the deceased had lost their lives; that
he was willing to believe the attack was unpremeditated, and under that impres-
sion he had made the ofifer of compensation. He assured them that he preferred
their friendship to their enmity ; but that, if unfortunately they were not actuated
by the same feelings, the white men would not, however deeply they might lament
it, shrink from the contest. At the same time he reminded them of our superiority
in arms and ammunition; and that for every man belonging to our party who
might fall, ten of their friends at least would suffer; and concluded by request-
ing them calmly to weigh and consider all these matters, and tO' bear in recollec-
tion that upon the result of their deliberation would in a great measure depend
whether white men would remain in their country or quit it forever.

"The interpreter having repeated the above, a violent debate took place among
the principal natives. One party advised the demand for the two white men to
be withdrawn, and to ask in their place a greater quantity of goods and ammu-
nition; while the other, which was by far the most numerous, and to which all
the relatives of the deceased belonged, opposed all compromise, unaccompanied
by the delivery of the victims.

"The arguments and threats of the latter gradually thinned the ranks of the
more moderate ; and Michel told Mr. Keith that he was afraid an accommodation
was impossible. Orders were thereupon issued to prepare for action, and the
men were told, when they received from Mr. Keith the signal, to be certain that
each shot should tell.

"In the meantime a number of the natives had withdrawn some distance from
the scene of deliberation, and from their fierce and threatening looks, joined to
occasional whispers, we momentarily expected they would commence an attack.

"A few of their speakers still lingered, anxious for peace; but their feeble
efforts were unavailing when opposed to the more powerful influence of the
hostile party, who repeatedly called on them to retire, and allow the white men
to proceed on their journey as well as they could. All but two chiefs and an
elderly man, who had taken an active part in the debate, obeyed the call, and
they remained for some time apparently undecided what course to adopt.

"From this group our eyes glanced to an extended line of the enemy who
were forming behind them ; and from their motions it became evident that their
intention was to outflank us. We therefore changed our position, and formed our
men into single files, each man about three feet from his comrade. The friendly
natives began to fall back slowly towards their companions, most of whom had
already concealed themselves behind large stones, tufts of wormwood, and furze
bushes, from which they could have taken a more deadly aim ; and Messrs. Keith
and Stewart, who had now abandoned all hopes of an amicable termination,
called for their arms.

H» OLD WAU.A W ALLA COUNTY

"An awful pause cnsurd, when our attrntiun was arrested by the loud tramp-
ing of horses, and i: twelve ni..untc,i warriors, dashed into the
space between the tv. they lialtcd ;iiid dismounted. 1 hey were
headed by a young chief, of fine hgurc, who instantly ran up to Mr. Keith, to
whom he prrsciUcd ' 1 in the most fricixlly nunncr, which example was
fulloMcd by his con lie then commanded our enemies to quit their
places of concealment, and to appear before him. His orders were promptly
ol>cyed; and having nude himself acquainted with the circumstances that led to
the deaths of the two Indians, and our efforts towards effecting a reconciliation,
he addressed them in a si)eech of considerable length, of which the following is
a brief sketch :

'■ i-"ricnds and relations! Three snows only have passed over our heads since
we were a i>oor miserable people. Our enemies, the Shoshones. during the
summer stole uur horses, by which we were i)rc\ented from hunting, and drove
us from the banks of the river, so that we could not get lish. In winter they
burned our lodges by night ; they killed our relations ; they treated our wives and
daughters like dogs, and left us either to die from cold or starvation, or become
their slaves.

" 'They were numerous and powerful ; we were few, and weak. Our hearts
were as the hearts of little children ; we could not fight like warriors, and were
driven like deer about the plains. When the thunders rolled and the rains jxjured,
we had no spot in which we could seek a shelter ; no place, save the rocks, whereon
we could lay our heads. Is such the case today? No, my relations! it is not.
We have driven the Shoshones from our hunting-grounds, on which they dare
not now appear, and have regained possession of the bnds of our fathers, in
which they and their fathers' fathers lie buried. We have horses and provisions
in abundance, and can sleep unmolested w ith our wives and our children, witliout
dreading the midnight attacks of our enemies. Our hearts are great within us,
and we are now a nation !'

"'Who then, my friends, have produced this change? The white men. In
exchange for our horses and for our furs, they gave us guns and ammunition ;
then we became strong; we killed many of our enemies, and forced them to
fly from our lands. And are we to treat those who have been the cause of this
happy change with ingratitude? Never! Never! The white people have
never roblxrd us; and, I ask, why should we attempt to rob them? It was bad,
very bad! — and they were right in killing the robbers.' Here symptoms of
ini|>afience and dissatisfaction became manifest among a group consisting chiefly
of the relations of the deceased ; on observing which, he continued in a louder
tone: 'Yes! I say they acted right in killing the roblnrrs ; and who among you
will dare to contradict me?'

" 'You all know well my father was killed by the enemy, when you all
deserted him like cowards ; and. while the Great Master of I.ife spares me. no
hostile foot shall again l>e set on our lands. I know you all; and I know that
those who are afraid of their Ixxiies in battle arc thieves when they are out of
it : but the warrior of the strong arm and the great heart will never rob a friend.'
.•\fter a short pause, he resumed: 'My friends, the white men are brave and
lielone to a great nation. They are many moons crossing the great lake in coming
from their own conntrv to ser\e us. If vou were foolish enough to attack them.

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LEADING HOTELS OF ■\\ALLA WALLA

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 17

they would kill a great many of you ; but suppose you should succeed in destroy-
ing all that are now present, what would be the consequence ? A greater number
would come next year to revenge the death of their relations, and they would
annihilate our tribe; or should not that happen, their friends at home, on hearing
of their deaths, would say we were a bad and wicked people, and white men
would never more come among us. We should then be reduced to our former
state of misery and persecution; our ammunition would be quickly expended; our
guns would become useless, and we should again be driven from our lands, and
the lands of our fathers, to wander like deer and wolves in the midst of the woods
and plains. I therefore say the white men must not be injured ! They have
offered you compensation for the loss of your friends: take it; but, if you should
refuse, I tell you to your faces that I will join them with my own band of
warriors; and should one white man fall by the arrow of an Indian, that Indian,
if he were my brother, with all his family, shall become victims to my vengeance.'
Then, raising his voice, he called out, 'Let the Wallah Wallahs, and all who love
me, and are fond of the white men, come forth and smoke the pipe of peace !'
Upwards of one hundred of our late adversaries obeyed the call, and separated
themselves from their allies. The harangue of the youthful chieftain silenced
all opposition. The above is but a faint outline of the arguments he made use
of, for he spoke upwards of two hours; and Michel confessed himself unable to
translate a great portion of his language, particularly when he soared into the
wild flights of metaphor, so common among Indians. His delivery was generally
bold, graceful, and energetic. Our admiration at the time knew no bounds; and
the orators of Greece or Rome when compared-with him, dwindled in our estima-
tion into insignificance. .; . _ " "^ '

"Through this chief's mediation, tlie viHolii .'claimants were in a short time
fully satisfied, without the flaming scalp jsf. our Higntand hero ; after which a
circle was formed by our people and the Indians iri^i^riminately : the white and
red chiefs occupied the center, and our return to friendship was ratified by each
individual in rotation taking an amicable whiiT from the peace-cementing calumet.

"The chieftain whose timely arrival had rescued us from impending destruc-
tion was called 'Morning Star.' His age did not exceed twenty-five years. His
father had been a chief of great bravery and influence, and had been killed in
battle by the Shoshones a few years before. He was succeeded by Morning
Star, who, notwithstanding his youth, had performed prodigies of valor. Nineteen
scalps decorated the neck of his war horse, the owners of which had been all
killed in battle by himself to appease the spirit of his deceased father. He
wished to increase the number of his victims to twenty ; but the terror inspired
by his name, joined to the superiority which his tribe derived by the use of fire-
arms, prevented him from making up the desired complement by banishing the
enemy from the banks of the Columbia.*

"His handsome features, eagle glance, noble bearing, and majestic person,
stamped him one of Nature's own aristocracy; while his bravery in the field,
joined to his wisdom in their councils, commanded alike the involuntary homage
of the young, and the respect of the old.

"We gave the man who had been wounded in the shoulder a chief's coat ; and

* The Indians consider the attainment of twenty scalps as the summit of a warrior's glory.

Vol. I— !l

18 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

to the relations of the men who were kiUed we gave two coats, two blankets, two
fathoms of cloth, two spears, forty bullets and powder, with a quantity of
trinkets, and two small kettles for their widows. We also distributed nearly half
a bale of tobacco among all present, and our youthful deliverer was presented
by Mr. Keith with a handsome fowling-piece, and some other valuable articles.

"Four men were then ordered to each canoe, and they proceeded on with
the poles; while the remainder, with the passengers, followed by land. We were
mixed pell-mell with the natives for several miles : the ground was covered with
large stones, small willows, and prickly-pears; and had they been inclined to
break the solemn compact into which they had entered, they could have destroyed
us with the utmost facility.

"At dusk we bade farewell to the friendly chieftain and his companions, and
crossed to the south side, where we encamped, a few miles above Lewis River,
and spent the night in tranquillity.

"It may be imagined by some that the part we acted in the foregoing trans-
action betrayed too great an anxiety for self-preservation ; but when it is recol-
lected that we were several hundred miles from any assistance, with a deep and
rapid river to ascend by the tedious and laborious process of poling, and that
the desultory Cossack mode of fighting in use among the Indians, particularly
the horsemen, would have cut us off in piecemeal ere we had advanced three
days, it will be seen that, under the circumstances, we could not have acted

otherwise."

And now we must turn to another phase of Indian life and character which
is most worthy of record, and one in which more than anywhere else they show
some of those "touches of nature which make the whole world kin." This is that
phase exhibited in myths and superstitions. Here we shall f^nd, as almost
nowhere else, that Indians are, after all, very much like other people. In this
portion of this chapter the author is incorporating portions of articles written by
himself for the American Antiquarian.

Like all primitive men, the Oregon Indians have an extensive mythology.
With childlike interest in the stars and moon and sun and fire and water and
forests as well as plants and animal life and their own natures, they have sought
out and passed on a wealth of legend and fancy which in its best features ,s
worthy of a place with the exquisite creations of Norse and Hellenic fancy,
even with much of the crude and grotesque. Yet it is not easy to secure these
legends just as the Indians tell them. In the first place few of the early explorers
knew how or cared to draw out the ideas of the first uncontaminated Indians.
The early settlers generally had a stupid intolerance in dealing with Indians
that made them shut right up like clams and withhold their stock of ideas. Later
the missionaries generally inclined to give them the impression that their "heathen"
legends and ideas were obstacles to their "salvation," and should be extirpated
from their minds. Still further the few that did really get upon a sympathetic
footing with them and draw out some of their myths, were likely to get them
in fragments and piece them out with Bible stories or other civilized concep-
tions, and thus the native stories have become adulterated. It is difficult to get
the Indians to talk freely, even with those whom they like and trust. Educated
Indians seem to be ashamed of their native lore, and will generally avoid talking
about it with whites at all, unless under exceptional conditions. Christianized

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 19

Indians seem to consider the repetition of their old myths a relapse into heathenism,
and hence will parry etiorts to draw them out. Li general, even when civilized,
Lidians are proud, reserved, suspicious, and on their guard. And with the primal
Indians few can make much headway. The investigator must start in indirectly,
not manifesting any eagerness, and simply suggest as if by accident some peculiar
appearance or incident in sky or trees or water, and let the Indian move on in
his own way to empty his own mind, never suspecting any effort by his listener
to gather up and tell again his story. And even under the most favoring con-
ditions, one may think he is getting along famously, when suddenly the Indian
will pause, glance furtively at the listener, give a moody chuckle, relapse into
stony and apathetic silence — that is the end of the tale.

Our stories have been derived mainly from the reports of those who have
lived much among the Indians, and who have been able to embrace the rare
occasions when, without self-consciousness or even much thought of outsiders,
the natives could speak out freely. There is usually no very close way of judg-
ing of the accuracy of observation or correctness of report of these investigators,
except as their statements are corroborated by others. These stories sometimes
conflict, different tribes having quite different versions of certain stories. Then
again the Indians have a peculiar habit of "continued stories," by which at the
teepee fire one will take up some well known tale and add to it and so make a
new story of it, or at least a new conclusion. As with the minstrels and minne-
singers of feudal Europe at the tournaments, the best fellow is the one who tells
the most thrilling tale.

One confusing condition that often arises with Indian names and stories is
that some Indians use a word generically and others use the same word spe-
cifically. For instance the native name for Mount Adams, commonly given as
"Pahtou," and Mount Rainier or Tacoma, better spelled "Takhoma," as sounded
by the Indians, really means any high mountain. A Wasco Indian once told the
author that his tribe called Mount Hood, "Pahtou," meaning the big mountain,
but that the Indians on the other side of the Columbia River applied the same
name to Adams. A very intelligent Puyallup Indian says that the name of the
"Great White Mountain" was "Takhoma," with accent and prolonged sound on
the second .syllable, but that any snow peak was the same, with the second syllable
not so prolonged according to height or distance of the peak. Mount St. Helens
was also "Takhoma," but with the "ho" not so prolonged. But among some
other Indians we find Mount St. Helens known as "Lawailaclough," and with
some Mount Hood is known as "Yetsl." Still other names are "Loowit" for
St. Helens and "Wiyeast" for Hood. Adams seems to be known to some as
"Klickitat." "Koolshan" for Baker, meaning the "Great White Watcher," is
one of the most attractive of Indian names and should be preserved. There is
"Shuksan" or "The place of the Storm Wind," the only one of the northwestern
peaks which has preserved its Indian name. In reference to "Takhoma," a
Puyallup woman told the writer that among her people the name meant the
"Breast that Feeds," or "The Breast of the Milk White Waters," referring to
the glaciers or the white streams that issue from them. On the other hand,
Winthrop in "Canoe and Saddle," states that the Indians applied the name "Tak-
homa" to any high snow peak. Mr. Edwin Eells of Tacoma has written that he
derived from Rev. Father Hylebos of the same city the statement that the name

20

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

"Takhonia" was compounded of '-Tah" and "Konia," and that among certain
Indians the word "Koma" meant any snow peak, while "Tah" is a superlative.
Hence, "Tahkoma" means simply the great peak.

We tind something of the .same inconsistencies in regard to the Indian names
of rivers. Our maps abound with supposed Indian names of rivers and yet an
educated Nez Perce Indian named Luke, living at Kamiah, Idaho, says that the
Indians, at least of that region, had no names of rivers, but only of localities.
He told the author that "Kooskooskie," which Lewis and Clark understood to be
the name of what we now call the Clearwater, was in reality a repetition of
"Koos," their word for water, and they meant merely to say that it was a strong
water. On the other hand we find many students of Indian languages who have
understood that there were names for the large rivers, even for the Columbia.
In the beautiful little book by B. H. Barrows, published and distributed by the
Union Pacific Railroad Company, we find the name "Shocatilicum" or "Friendly
Water" given as the Chinook name for the Columbia. It is interesting to notice
that this same word for "friendly water" appears in Vol. II, of the Lewis and
Clark Journal, but with different spelling, in one place being "Shocatilcum" and
in another place "Chockalilum." Reverend Father Blanchet is authority for
the statement in "Historical Magazine," II, 335, that the Chinook Indians used
the name "Yakaitl Wimakl" for the Lower Columbia. A Yakima Indian called
William Charley gives "Chewanna" as still another Indian name for the Columbia.

We have many supposed Indian names for God, as "Nekahni," or "Sahale,"
but Miss Kate McBeth, long a missionary among the Nez Perces, records in her
book about them that those Indians had no native name for the deity. Of these
Indian myths many deal with the chief God, as "Nekahni," "Sahale," "Dokidatl,"
"Snoqualm," or "Skomalt," while others have to do with the lesser grade of the
supernatural beings, as the Coyote god, variously named "Tallapus," "Speelyi,"
or "Sinchaleep." Others may treat of "Skallalatoots" (Fairies), "Toomuck,"
(Devils), or the various forms of "Tomanowas" (magic). A large number of
these myths describe the supposed origin of strange features of the natural world,
rocks, lakes, whirlpools, winds and waterfalls. Some describe the "animal
people," "Watetash," as the Klickitats call them. Some of the best are fire-
myths. These myths seem to have been common among all Indians of the
Columbia Valley.

In the preceding chapter we have given two of the best Indian myths, that of
Wishpoosh and that of the Chinook Wind. We insert here two stories of a
very different nature, derived from the same investigator as the two preceding,
Dr. G. B. Kuykendall of Pomeroy, Washington.

There is a legend among the Yakima Indians which seems to have the same
root in human nature as the beautiful Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice,
showing the instinctive desire of people on earth to bring back the spirits of the
dead, and the impossibility of doing so. This myth sets forth how Speelyi and
Whyama the eagle became at one time so grieved at the loss of their loved ones
that they determined to go to the land of the spirits and bring them back. The
two adventurers journeyed for a long distance over an unbroken plain, and came
at last to a great lake, on the farther side of which they saw many houses. They
called long and vainly for someone to come with a boat and ferry them over.
But there was no sign of life and at last Whyama said that there could be no one

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 21

there. Speelyi insisted, liowever, that the people were simply sleeping the sleep
of the day and would come forth at night. Accordingly, when the sun went down
and darkness began to come on, Speelyi started to sing. In a few minutes they
saw four spirit men come to the bank, enter a boat and cross the lake to meet
them. It seemed not necessary for them to row the boat, for apparently it
skimmed over the water of its own accord. The spirit men, having landed, took
Whyama and Speelyi with them in the boat and began their return to the island
of the dead. The island seemed to be a very sacred place. There was a house
of mats upon the shore, where music and dancing were in progress. Speelyi
and Whyama begged leave to enter, and feeling hungry, they asked for food.
The spirit land was so much less gross than the earth that they were satisfied
by what was dipped with a feather out of a bottle. The spirit people now came
to meet them dressed in most beautiful costumes, and so filled with joy that
Speelyi and Whyama felt a great desire to share their happiness. By the time
of the morning light, however, the festivities ceased and all the spirit people
became wrapped in slumber for the day. Speelyi, observing that the moon was
hung up inside the great banquet hall and seemed to be essential to the ongoings
of the evening, stationed himself in such a place that he could seize it during the
next night's meeting. As soon as night came on the spirits gathered again for
the music and dance. While their festivities were in progress as usual, Speelyi
suddenly swallowed the moon, leaving the entire place in darkness. Then he and
Whyama brought in a box, which they had previously provided, and Whyama,
flying swiftly about the room caught a number of the spirits and enclosed them
in the box. Then the two proceeded to start for the earth, Speelyi carrying the
box upon his back.

As the two adventurers went upon their long journey toward the earth with
the precious box, the spirits, which at first were entirely imponderable, began
to be transformed into men and to have weight. Soon they began to cry out
on account of their crowded and uncomfortable position. Then they became
so heavy that Speelyi could no longer carry them. In spite of the remonstrances
of Whyama, he opened the box. They were astonished and overwhelmed with
grief to see the partiallv transformed spirits flit away like autumn leaves and dis-
appear in the direction from which they had come. Whyama thought that per-
haps even as the buds grow in the spring, so the dead would come back with
the blooming of the next flowers. But Speelyi deemed it best after this that
the dead should remain in the land of the dead. Had it not been for this, as the
Indians think, the dead would indeed return every spring with the openmg of

tllP lc3.VCS

The Klickitat Indians, living along the Dalles of the Columbia, have another
legend of the land of spirits. There was a young chief and a girl who were
devoted to each other and seemed to be the happiest people in the tribe, but sud-
denly be sickened and died. The girl mourned for him almost to the point of
death, and he, having reached the land of spirits, could find no happiness there

on account of thinking of her. , ,u ■ ^ u ■ ut +»ii

And so it came to pass that a vision began to appear to the girl by night, tell-
ing her that she must herself go into the land of the spirits in order to console
her lover. Now there is near that place one of the most weird and funereal of
all the various "memaloose" islands, or death islands, of the Columbia. The

22 OLD WALLA WALLA COLXTY

writer himself has been upun this island and its spectral and volcanic desolation
makes it a fitting location for ghostly tales. It lies just below the "great chute,"
and even yet has many skeletons upon it. In accordance with the directions of
the vision, the girl's father made ready a canoe, placed her in it, and rowed out
into the great river by night to the menialoose island. As the father and his
child rowed across the dark and forbidding waters, they began to hear the sound
of singing and dancing and great joy. Upon the shore of the island they were
met by four spirit people, who took the girl but bade the father return, as it was
not for him to see into the spirit country. Accordingly the girl was conducted
to the great dance house of the spirits, and there she met her lover, far stronger
and more beautiful than when upon earth. That night they spent in unspeakable
bliss, but when the light began to break in the east and the song of the robins
began to be heard from the willows on the shore, the singers and the dancers
began to fall asleep.

The girl, too, had gone to sleep, but not soundly like the spirits. When the
sun had reached the meridian, she woke, and now, to her horror, she saw that
instead of being in the midst of beautiful spirits, she was surrounded by hideous
skeletons and loathsome, decaying bodies. Around her waist were the bony arms
and skeleton fingers of her lover, and his grinning teeth and gaping eye-sockets
seemed to be turned in mockery upon her. Screaming with horror she leaped
up and ran to the edge of the island, where, after hunting a long time, she found
a boat, in which she paddled across to the Indian village. Having presented her-
self to her astonished parents, they became fearful that some great calamity
would visit the tribe on account of her return, and accordingly her father took
her the next night back to the memaloose island as before. There she met again
the happy spirits of the blessed and there again her lover and she spent another
night in ecstatic bliss.

In the course of time a child was born to the girl, -beautiful beyond descrip-
tion, being half spirit and half human. The spirit bridegroom, being anxious
that his mother should see the child, sent a spirit messenger to the village, desir-
ing his mother to come by night to the memaloose island to visit them. She was
told, however, that she must not look at the child until ten days had passed.
But after the old woman had reached the island her desire to see the wonderful
child was so intense that she took advantage of a moment's inattention on the
part of the guard, and, lifting the cloth from the baby board, she stole a look at
the sleeping infant. And then, dreadful to relate, the baby died in consequence
of this premature human look. Grieved and displeased by this foolish act, the
spirit people decreed that the dead should never again return nor hold any com-
munication witli the living.

As showing still another phase of Indian imagination, the stories of the
"Tomanowas Bridge" of the Cascades may well find a place here.

This myth not only treats of fire, but it also endeavors to account for the
peculiar formation of the river and for the great snow peaks in the near vicinity.
This myth has various forms, and in order that it may be the better understood,
Ave shall say a word with respect to the peculiar physical features in that part
of the Columbia. This mighty river, after having traversed over a thousand
miles from its source in the heart of the Rocky Mountains of Canada, has cleft
the Cascade range asunder with the cafion 3,000 feet in depth. While generally

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 23

very swift, that portion of the river between The Dalles and the Cascades, of
about fifty miles, is very deep and sluggish. There are moreover sunken forests
on both sides of the river, visible at low water, which seem plainly to indicate
that at that point the river was dammed up by some great rock slide or volcanic
convulsion. Some of the Lidians affirm that their grandfathers have told them
there was a time when the river at that point passed under an immense natural
bridge and that there were no obstructions to the passage of boats under the bridge.
At the present time there is a cascade of forty feet at that point. This is now over-
come by Government locks. Among other evidences of some such actual occur-
rence as the Indians relate is the fact that the banks of the river at that point
are gradually sliding into the river. The prodigious volume of the Columbia
which here rises from fifty to seventy-five feet during the summer flood and
which, as shown by Government engineers, carries as much water as the Missis-
sippi at New Orleans, is here continually eating into the banks. The railroad
has slid several inches a year at this point toward the river and requires frequent
readjustment. It is obvious at a slight inspection that this weird and sublime
point in the course of this majestic river has been the scene of terrific volcanic
and probably seismic action. One Indian legend, probably the best known of all
their stories, is to the effect that the downfall of the great bridge and consequent
damming of the river was due to a great battle between Mount Hood and Mount
Adams, in which Mount Hood hurled a great rock at his antagonist, but falling
short of the mark the rock demolished the bridge instead. This event has been
made use of by Frederick Balch in his beautiful story, "The Bridge of the Gods,"
the finest story yet produced in Oregon.

But the finer, though less known legend, which unites both the physical con-
formation of the Cascades and the three great snow mountains of Hood, Adams,
and St. Helens, with the origin of fire, is to this efi^ect. This story was secured
by Mr. Fred Saylor of Portland.

According to the Klickitats there was once a father and two sons who came
from the east down the Columbia to the vicinity of where Dalles City is now
located, and there the two sons quarreled as to who should possess the land.
The father, to settle the dispute, shot two arrows, one to the north and one to
the west. ?Ie told one son to find the arrow to the north and the other the one at
the west and there to settle and bring up their families. The first son, going
northward, over what was then a beautiful plain, became the progenitor of the
Klickitat tribe, while the other son was the founder of the great Multnomah
nation of the Willamette Valley. To separate the two tribes more effectively
Sahale reared the chain of the Cascades, though without any great peaks, and
for a long time all things went in harmony. But for convenience' sake Sahale
had created the great tomanowas bridge under which the waters of the Columbia
flowed, and on this bridge he had stationed a witch woman called Loowit. who
was to take charge of the fire. This was the only fire in the world. As time
passed on Loowit observed the deplorable condition of the Indians, destitute
of fire and the conveniences which it might bring. She therefore besought Sahale
to allow her to bestow fire upon the Indians. Sahale, having been greatly pleased
by the faitli fulness and benevolence of Loowit, finally granted her request. The
lot of the Indians was wonderfully improved by the acquisition of fire. Thev

24 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

now began to make better lodges and clothes and had a variety of food and
implements and, in short, were marvellously benefited by the bounteous gift.
lUit Sahale, in order to show his aj)preciation of the care with which Loowit
had guarded the sacred tire, now determined to offer her any gift she might desire
as a reward. Accordingly, in response to his offer, Loowit asked that she be
transformed into a young and beautiful girl. This was effected and now, as
might have been expected, all the Indian chiefs fell deeply in love with the
beautiful guardian of the tomanowas bridge. Loowit paid little heed to any
of them, until finally there came two magnificent chiefs, one from the north
called Klickitat, and one from the south called Wiyeast. Loowit was uncertain
which of these two she most desired, and as a result a bitter strife arose between
the two, and this waxed hotter and hotter, until finally, with their respective
warriors, they entered upon a desperate war. The land was ravaged, all the
beautiful things which they had made were marred, and misery and wretched-
ness ensued. Sahale repented that he had allowed Loowit to bestow fire upon the
Indians, and determined to undo all his work in so far as he could. Accordingly
he broke down the tomanowas bridge, which dammed up the river with an
impassable reef and put to death Loowit, Klickitat and Wiyeast. But, he said,
inasmuch as they had been so grand and beautiful in life, he would give them
a fitting commemoration after death. Therefore he reared over them as monu-
ments the great snow peaks ; over Loowit what we now call Mount St. Helens,
over Wiyeast the modern Mount Hood, and above Klickitat the stupendous dome
of what we now call Mount Adams.

And now it is a matter of much interest to learn something of the chief
original sources and the most reliable investigators of these myths. This survey
is necessarily incomplete. The endeavor is to name the students and writers
of myths as far as possible. This search goes beyond Old Walla Walla and
covers Old Oregon.

First in the natural order of the investigators, and records of Indian myths
come the early explorers and writers of Old Oregon. Most of these give us
little on the special subject of myths, though they give much on the habits,
customs, occupations, and implements of the natives. The earliest explorer in
Oregon, so far as known to the author, to give any native legend, is Gabriel
Franchere, who came to Astoria with the Astor Fur Company in 1811. In his
narrative, upon which Irving's "Astoria" is largely based, we find a fine story
of the creation of men by Etalapass, and their subsequent improvement by
Ecannum. Franchere says that this legend was related to him by Ellewa, one
of the sons of Concomly, the one-eyed Chinook chief, who figures conspicuously
in Franchere's narrative. Of valuable books of the same period of Franchere,
are Ross Cox's "Adventures on the Columbia River," and Alexander Ross'
"Adventures on the Columbia," both of which contain valuable references to the
customs and superstitious ideas of the natives, though not much in the way of
myths. Ross gives an interesting myth of the Oakinackens (Okanogans as we
now say) about the origin of the Indians or Skyloo on the white man's island,
Samahtumawhoolah. The Indians were then very white and ruled by a female
spirit, or Great Mother, named Skomalt, but their island got loose and drifted
on the ocean for many suns, and as a result they became darkened to their
present hue. Ross gives also an account of the belief of the Oakinackens in a

POSTOFFICE, WALLA WALLA

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 25

good spirit, one of whose names is Skyappe, and a bad spirit, one of whose names
was Chacha. The chief deity of those Indians seems to have been the great
mother of Hfe, Skomalt, whose name also has the addition of "Squisses." Ross
says that those Indians change their names constantly and doubtless their deities
did the same.

Of valuable books a few years later than those just named, one especially
deserving of mention is Dr. Samuel Parker's "Exploring Tour Beyond the
Rocky Mountains," the result of observations made in 1835 and 1836. This,
however, contains little in the way of mythology. Capt. Charles Wilkes, the
American explorer of the early '40s, gives a very interesting account of a Palouse
myth of a beaver which was cut up to make the tribes. This is evidently another
version of the Klickitat story of the great beaver, Wishpoosh, of Lake Cleelum.
One of the most important of the early histories of Oregon is Dunn's, the
materials for which were gathered in the decade of the '40s. With other valuable
matter it contains accounts of the religious conceptions of the Indians, and here
we find the legend of the Thunder Bird of the Tinneh, a northern tribe. In this
same general period, though a little later, we find the most brilliant of all writers
dealing with Oregon ; that is, the gifted scholar, poet and soldier, Theodore
Winthrop. His book, "Canoe and Saddle," has no rival for literary excellence
and graphic power, among all the books which have dealt with the Northwest. The
book was first published in 1862, and republished fifty years later in beautiful
form by John H. Williams of Tacoma. "Canoe and Saddle" commemorates a
journey from Puget Sound across the; niouiifaijis^and through the Yakima and
Klickitat countries in 1854. It cdntein^-seyera-l. fine Indian stories, notably that
of the Miser of Mount Tacoma, and that of the Devil of the Dalles. Winthrop
does not state from whom directly he. secured the second of these myths, but
no doubt from the Indians themselves",' thougJi the' peculiar rich imagination and
picturesque language of Winthrop are in evidence throughout the narration. The
tale of the Miser of Mount Tacoma is attributed by Winthrop to Hamitchou,
an Indian of the Squallygamish tribe.

At about the same time as Winthrop's, occurred the visit and investigations
of James G. Swan, whose book, "The Northwest Coast," was published in 1857.
Tn this is found the cre.ition myth of the Ogress of Saddle Mountain, relating
the issuing forth of Indians from eggs cast down the mountain-side by the
Ogress. Many years ago Rev. Myron Eells told the writer a variation of that
story, which has appeared in sundry forms and publications, being the story of
Toulux, the South Wind, Quootshoi the witch, and Skamson the Thunder Bird.
In addition to the legend of the Thunder Bird, Swan gives many items of peculiar
interest. Among these we find his idea that certain customs of the Indians ally
them with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. His final impression seems to be,
however, that they are autocthonous in America. He refers to the observation
of General George Gibbs of the similarity of Klickitat myths to those in Long-
fellow's Hiawatha. He also refers to the beeswax ship of the Nehalem. In
connection with the thought of Indian resemblance to the Ten Lost Tribes, it is
worth noticing that this has come forth from various directions. Miss Kate
McBeth has expressed the same in connection with the Nez Perces. It was also
a favorite idea with B. B. Bishop, one of the earliest builders of steamboats
on the Columbia, who lived many years at Pendleton, Oregon. He told the

26 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

writer that the Indians at the Cascades had a spring festival with the lirst run
of salmon. They would boil whole the first large salmon caught', and have a
ceremony in which the whole tribe would pass in procession around the fish,
each taking a bit. They exercised the utmost care to leave the skeleton intact,
so that at the end it had been picked clean but with not a bone broken. Mr.
Bishop thought that this was a sunival of the Jewish idea of the Paschal Lamb.

Among the great collectors of all kinds of historical data in what might be
called the middle period of Northwest history and not exactly belonging to any
one of the specific groups, is H. H. Bancroft, already referred to in the first
part of this chapter. In his "Native Races," are found many myths, with refer-
ences given, but these mainly deal with Mexican, Central American, and Cali-
fornian Indians. He refers to Holmburg's ethnological studies in German as
containing valuable matter in regard to our Northwestern Indians. Harmon's
Journal, with its reference to the TacuUies of British Columbia and their legend
of the Musk Rat, is also named. In the same connection we find reference to
Yehl the Raven, an especial favorite of the Indians of British Columbia and the
upper part of Puget Sound.

From what may be termed the first group of narrators of native tales, we
may turn to those that may be called the scientific ethnologists. We are indebted
to Dr. Franz Boas, himself the foremost of the group, for the list of these pro-
fessional students of the subject. These men took up the matter in a more
scientific and methodical way than the travellers and pioneers and have presented
the results of their work in form that appeals to the scholar, the work of trained
investigators, seeking the facts and giving them as exactly as possible, not affected
by the distortions and exaggerations common to unscientific observers. They
were all connected with the Smithsonian Institute, and their work was mainly
tmder the Government.

The Bibliography as given by Doctor Boas, is as follov/s:

Edward Sapir, Wishram Texts (publications of the American Ethnological
Society, Vol. 11).

Leo J. Frachtenberg, Coos Texts (Columbia University contributions to
Anthropology, \'ol. I).

Leo J. Frachtenberg, Lower Unipqua Texts (Ibid., Vol. IV).

James Teit, Traditions of the Thompson Indians (Memoirs of the Amer-
ican Folk-Lore Society, Vol. VI). (This is not Washington, but
practically identical with material from the interior of Washington.)

James Teit, Mythology of the Thompson Indians (Jesup North Pacific
Expedition Publications, Vol. VIII).

James Teit, The Shuswap (Ibid., Vol. II).

Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Kiiste Amerikas.

Franz Boas, Mythology of the Indians of Washington and Oregon
(Globus, Yo]. LXIII, pp. 154-157, 172-175, igo-193).

H. J. Spinden, Myths of the Nez Perce (Journal of American Folk Lore,
Vol. XXI).

Louisa McDermott, Myths of the Flathead Indians (Ibid., Vol. XIV).

Franz Boas, Sagen der Kootenay (Berlin Society for Anthropology,
Ethnology, etc., \'ol. XXIII, pp. 161-172).

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 27

Livingston Farrand, Traditions of the Quinault Indians (Publications
of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. II).

Franz Boas, Chinook Texts (Bureau of Ethnology, Government Print-
ing Office, 1894).

Franz Boas, Cathlamet Texts (Ibid.).

James Teit, Traditions of the Lilloost Indians (Journal of American
Folk-Lore, \'ol. XXV).

Jeremiah Curtin, Myths of the Modocs (Little, Brown & Co.).
To these may be added, as of special value, the studies of Prof. Albert S.
Gatchett among the Modocs, found under the title, "Oregonian Folk-Lore" in the
Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. IV, 1891, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. The
other volumes of the Journal of .luierican Folk-Lore from 1888 to 1913 contain
valuable matter.

Doctor Boas found a treasury of information in an old Indian named Charlie
Cultee, at Bay Center in Willapa Harbor, Wash., and from that source derived
the material for the most scientific and uncolored study of Indian lore yet given
to the public. These appear in the Chinook Texts of Doctor Boas. In this is a
fine story of the first ship seen by the Clatsops. This is found also in H. S.
Lyman's History of Oregon. In Professor Gatchett's book are found some of
the finest fire myths and fish myths of the Northwest.

Following the groups of the explorers and the professional ethnologists, may
come the larger body of miscellaneous collectors and writers, who, through local
papers and magazines and published books, as well as personal narration, have
rescued many quaint and curious gems of Indian mythology from oblivion and
through various channels have imparted them to the slowly accumulating stock.
Those no longer living may properly appear first. Of comparatively recent
students no longer living, Silas Smith of Astoria was one of the best. His
father was Solomon Smith of the Wyeth Expedition, while his mother was
Celiast, daughter of the Clatsop chief Cobaiway. Through his Indian mother
Mr. Smith obtained much interesting matter, much of which was preserved
by H. S. Lyman in his history of Oregon, and in articles in the Oregonian, His-
torical Oiwrtcrly. and other publications. H. S. Lyman was also an original
investigator, deriving his data mainly from Silas Smith and from a group of
Indians who formerly lived at the mouth of the Nekanicum. These stories ap-
pear in his history of Oregon and in a group contained in the "Tallapus Stories,"
published in the Oregonian. Another intelligent and patient investigator was
Rev. Mvron Fells, who lived for many years on Hood's Canal. Many years ago
the author heard from him legends from the Indians which he derived directly
from the natives, such as the Thunder Bird, the Flood around Mount Tacoma
C which he thought colored by the story of Noah in the Bible), and others. In the
book by Mr. Hells, entitled "Ten Years' Missionary Work in Skokomish," he gives
a valuable description of the "Tomanowas." In various numbers of the American
Antiquarian Mr. Eells has valuable articles as follows: "The Religion of the
Twana Indians," July, 1879; "Dokidatl, or the God of the Puget Sound Indians,"
November, 1884; "The Indians of Puget Sound," May, 1888, and March, 1890.
Prominent among the scholars and lecturers of Oregon is the great name of
Thomas Condon, for a long time in the State University, and the earliest student
in a large way of the geology of the Northwest. He was interested in Indiaii

28 OLD WAI.I.A WALLA COUNTY

myths as in almost everything that had to do with man and nature. The legend
of the "Bridge of the Clods," already given in this chapter, particularly appealed
to him. One of the notable students of both the geology and anthropology of the
Northwest was George Gibbs, who came to Oregon as a Government geologist
in 1853. In his rejiort on the Pacific Railroad in House of Representatives Docu-
ments of 1853-4, he gives the first published version, so far as we can discover, of
the "Bridge of the Gods." He tells the story thus: "The Indians tell a char-
acteristic tale of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens to the effect that they were
man and wife; that they finally quarreled and threw fire at one another, and that
St. Helens was victor; since when Mount Hood has been afraid, while St. Helens,
having a stout heart, still burned. In some versions this story is connected with
the slide which formed the Cascades of the Columbia." Mr. Gibbs also gives some
\'akima legends.

One of the most distinguished of all the literary pioneers of Old Oregon was
Samuel A. Clark. In his "Pioneer Days in Oregon" are several interesting
legends well told. In this we find the legend of the Nahalem, with Ona and Sandy
and all their tribulations. We find here told also the story of the Bridge of the
Gods, in which Hood and Adams are represented as the contending forces, having
been originally the abutments of the Bridge of the Gods. But the most noted con-
tribution of Mr. Clark to this legend -was his poem called, "The Legend of the
Mountains," referring to the fabled bridge, which appeared in Harper's Maga::ine
of February, 1874. This represents Mount St. Helens as a goddess for whom
Hood and Adams contended, hurling huge stones at each other and finally break-
ing down the bridge. The story of the bridge became the most noted of all
native myths, being related to practically every traveller that made the steamboat
trip down the Columbia.

Let us now turn to those discoverers and writers of Indian myths who are still
living. The majority of these are from the nature of the case adaptors and tran-
scribers, rather than original students. But some among them are entitled to the
place of genuine investigators. Among these a foremost place must be accorded
to Fred A. Saylor of Portland. He was for several years editor of the Oregon
Native Son, and for it he wrote a number of stories which he derived directly
from the Indians. A student of these stories from boyhood, he has accumulated
the largest collection of matter both published and unpublished of anyone in the
Northwest. This collection is preserved by him in fourteen large scrap books,
and constitutes a treasury of valuable data which it is to be hoped may soon ap-
pear in a published form for the delight and profit of many readers. Among the
legends of which Mr. Saylor is entitled to be regarded as the discoverer are these :
"The Legend of Tahoma" ; "Why the Indian Fears Golden Hair," or, "The Origin
of Castle Rock;" "Speelyi, or the Origin of Latourelle Falls, and the Pillars of
Hercules;" "Thorns on Rosebushes;" "The Noah of the Indians;" "The Strange
Story of a Double Shadow ;" "The Legend of Snake River Valley ;" "A Wa])pato
Account of the Flood ;" "The Last Signal Fire of the Multnomah ;" "The Legend
of the Willamette;" "The Love of an Indian Maid;" "Enumpthla;" "Coyote's
Tomb ;" "Multnomah." The last named has been presented by students on the
campus of the State University and also at the Agricultural College of Oregon.

Of investigators known to the author, none seems more worthy of extended
and favorable mention than Dr. G. B. Kuykendall of Pomeroy, Wash. He was

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 29

for a number of years the physician for the Yakima Reservation at Fort Simcoe.
He began his work of collecting in 1875, deriving his knowledge directly from
the Indians. His authorities were almost entirely old Indians, for from such only
could he secure narrations of unadulterated character. His first published writ-
ings were in the "West Shore," of Portland, in 18S7. His most mature contribu-
tion, which may indeed be considered the best yet given to the public, is found in
Vol. II, of the "History of the Pacific Northwest," published by the North
Pacific History Co., of Portland, in 1889. This is an admirable piece of work,
and students of the subject will find here a treasure of native lore. The following
is the list of stories given by Dr. Kuykendall in that work: "Wishpoosh, the
Beaver God, and the Origin of the Tribes;" "Speelyi Fights Enumtla;" "Speelyi
Outwits the Beaver Women;" "Rock Myths ;" "Legend of the Tick;" "Mountain
Lake Myths;" "The Origin of Fire;" "Water Nymphs;" "Wawa, the Mosquito
God;" "Origin of the Loon;" "Castiltah, the Crayfish;" "Wakapoosh, the Rattle
Snake ;" "The Tumwater Luminous Stone God ;" "The Wooden Fireman of the
Cascades ;" "Contest Between the Chinooks and Cold Wind Brothers ;" "Speelyi's
Ascent to Heaven ;" "Coyote and Eagle Attempt to Bring the Dead Back from
Spirit Land ;" "The Isle of the Dead."

Another original investigator and the author of an unique and picturesque
book devoted exclusively to Indian myths, is W. S. Phillips of Seattle, well known
by his non-de-plume of "EI Comancho." The book by Mr. Phillips is "Totem
Tales." Mr. Phillips says that he gathered the matter for "Totem Tales" from
the Puget Sound Indians and from Haida Indians who had come south. This
work was mainly done about twenty-five years ago. He verified much of his
matter by comparing with Judge Swan, and by the stories acquired by Doctor Shaw,
who was at one time Indian agent at Port Madison, and whose wife was one of
the daughters of old Chief Sealth (Seattle). He derived matter for comparison
also from Rev. Myron Eells. The chief Indian authority of Mr. Phillips was old
Chisiahka (Indian John to the Whites), and it was a big tree on the shore of
Lake Union that suggested the idea of the "Talking Pine," which the author wove
so picturesquely into the narrative. Mr. Phillips has also published the "Chinook
Book," the most extensive study of the jargon language yet made. To the others
he has added a most attractive book entitled, "Indian Tales for Little Folks."

Another present day investigator, whose work is especially worthy of mention
is Rev. J. Neilson Barry, an enthusiastic and intelligent student of every phase
of the history of the Northwest. In Chapter III of Volume I of Gaston's "Cen-
tennial History of Oregon," Mr. Barry gives a valuable contribution to Indian
legends.

Yet another original student is Miss Kate McBeth of Lapwai, Idaho, who with
her sister lived for years among the Nez Perces, performing a most beneficent
missionary work for them. In her book, "The Nez Perces Since Lewis and
Clark," may be found the Kamiah myth, and a few others derived directly from
those Indians. Mention may well be made here also of a Nez Perce Indian named
Luke, previously referred to, living at Kamiah, who has a very intelligent knowl-
edge of all kinds of Indian matters. Miss McBeth says that the Nez Perces do
not like to discuss generally their "heathen" stories and customs. In connection
with the Nez Perces it may be stated that Yellow Wolf of Nespilem is an authority
on the myth of the Kamiah Monster.

30 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

Still aiiolher enthusiastic student of Indian legends is Lucullus V. Mc-
Whorter of North Yakima. He is an adopted member of the Yakima tribe, and
has been of incalculable benefit to the Indians in instructing them as to their
rights, in presenting their cause to the Government, and in making known their
needs as well as some of their wrongs to the general public through voice and
pen. He has made a specialty in recent years of organizing the Indians and taking
them to "Round-Ups" and "Frontier Days." A recent pamphlet by him on the
treatment of the Yakimas in connection with their water rights is an "eye-opener,"
on some phases of Indian service and Indian problems. Mr. McWhorter has
gathered a large amount of matter from the Indians, in which is material for
three books : "Traditions of the Yakimas ;" "Hero Stories of the Yakimas ;" "Nez
Perce Warriors in the War of 1877." Among the proteges of Mr. McWhorter
from whom he tells me much of interest could be derived, are Chief Yellow
WoU of the Joseph Band of Nez Perces, and Mrs. Crystal ^McLeod, known to her
people as Humishuma, or ]\Iorning Dove, an Okanogan woman of unusual beauty
and intelligence and well instructed in the English language. Her picture appears
in this work from photographs taken by Mr. John Langdon of Walla Walla.

Any reference to any phase of Oregon would be incomplete without mention
of John Minto, one of the most honored of pioneers, one of the noblest of men,
and one of the best examples of those ambitious, industrious, and high minded
state builders who gave the Northwest its loftiest ideals. Mr. Minto was a
student of the Indians and discovered and gave to the world various Clatsop and
Nehalem legends. Hon. E. L. Smith of Hood River, Ore., well known as an
official and legislator of both Oregon and Washington, and a man of such char-
acter that all who ever knew him have the highest honor for him in every
relation of life, has made a life-long study of the natives and has a great collection
of myths both in mind and on paper. He is one of the most sympathetic, tolerant,
and appreciative of investigators, one whom the Indians of the Mid-Columbia
trust implicitly. He has written little for publication in comparison with what
he knows, and it is to be hoped that his stores of material may be brought within
reach before long. Worthy of mention as a general student of the geography and
language of the Indians is Mr. John Gill of Portland. While he has not made a
specialty of myths, he has studied the habits and language with special attention,
and his dictionary of the Chinook jargon is one of the most valuable collections
of the kind.

It is proper to mention here several who are well versed in native lore, yet
who have not given their knowledge of legends or myths to the public in book or
magazine form. The most conspicuous, indeed, of this group is no longer living.
This was Dr. William C. McKay, a grandson of the McKay of the Astor Fur
Company, who lost his life on the Tonquin. The mother of Doctor McKay was
a Chinook "princess." He was a man of great ability and acquired a fine edu-
cation. He lived for years in Pendleton, Ore., where he died some time ago. In
the possession of his children and grandchildren there is undoubtedly valuable
material and if it could be reduced to written form it would furnish matter of
great interest. Certain others of Indian blood may be properly added here who
could give material for interesting narrations. Among these are Henry Sicade
and William Wilton, living on the Puyallup Reservation near Tacoma, Samuel

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 31

McCaw of Yakima, \\'ash., and Charlie Pitt of the Warm Springs Agency in
Oregon.

This summary of Indian stories and their investigators is necessarily incom-
plete. One of the hopes in including it in this work is that it may lead to added
contributions. As we contemplate the beauty and grandeur of Old Oregon, which
includes Washington and Idaho and a part of Montana, and the pathos, heroism
and nobility of its history, and as we see the pitiful remnant of the Indians, we
cannot fail to be touched with the quaint, the pathetic, and the suggestive myths
and legends that are passing with them into the twilight. In our proud days of
possession and of progress we do well to pause and drop the tear of sympathy and
place the chaplet of commemoration upon the resting place of the former lords
of the land, and to recognize their contributions to the common stock of human
thought.

CHAITER 111

THE FIRST EXPLORERS AND THEIR ROUTES THROUGH THE

REGION

Of all events in early American history influential in their bearing upon the
territorial development of the United States, the Louisiana I'urchase in 1803 must
Iw accorded the foremost place. Until that event the United States, in spite of the
fact that it had gained indi|K-ndence, was essentially EurojK-an in its habit of
thou(;ht and colonial in its aspirations and outlook. A few seers indeed recognized
the possibilities of continental exjKinsion. The doctrine of "manifest destiny"
had held the glowing vision of the place in history which might be wrought by
a continent, or at least the dominating parts of it, under the control of the same
race of men who had redeemed the Atlantic seaboard from the wilderness and
successfully maintained against the greatest empire of the world the proposition
that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
The author of those words had seen more clearly jK-rhaps than any other the world
vision of a great American denuKracy, indeiK-mlent of I'"uroi>e and yet by reason
of geographical position as well as political ideals and social aspirations, the
natural mediator among |)eoples and the ultimate teacher and enlightcner of
mankind.

When, therefore, as a result of the political revolution of 1800 and the pcr-
HKiticnt establishment of the democratic conception in tlic leadership of .American
l>olitics. Thomas JefTer-ion found himself invested with the enormous responsibil-
ity of framing policies and measures for the new era, one of his foremost aims
was to turn the face of the nation westward. Having long entertained the idea
that the tnic policy was to secure such posts of vantage beyond the .Mlcghenies
as would lead by natural stages to the acquisition of the country beyond the
Mi>.sissippi, even to the Pacific, he was alert to seize any opening for pursuing that
truly .American jwlicy. He did not have long to wait. At the time of his inaugu-
ration the stupendous energies of the French Revolution had liecomc concentrated
in that overjiowering iH-rsonality. Napoleon Bonaparte. Holding then the position
of first consul, but as tnily the imperial master as when he placed the iron crown
of the Lombards upon his own head, "the man on horsel)ack" perceived that a
renewal of the great war was inevitable and that .Austria on land and England
at sea were going to put metes to his empire if human power could do if. Nothing
was more hateful to Napoleon than to let French America, or Ixtuisiana, slip from
his grasp. Rut he had not the maritime equipment to defend it. England was
sure to take it and that soon. Monroe, the .American envoy, was in Paris fidly
instructed by President Jefferson what to do. ,AII things were ready. The man
and the occasion met. The Louisiana Purchase was consummated. For less than
three rents .in acre, a region now comprising thirteen states or parts of states,

■\'2

HKiH SCHOOL, WAITSBURG

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 33

estimated at over five hundred and sixty-five million acres, equal in extent to
all Europe outside of Russia and Scandinavia, became part of the United States.

When that great event was consummated and one of the milestones in the
world's progress upon the highway of universal democracy had been set for good,
the next step in the mind of Jefferson was to provide for the exploration of the
vast new land. The westward limits of Louisiana were not indeed defined by the
treaty of purchase otherwise than as the boundaries by which the territory had
been ceded by Spain to France, and those boundaries in turn were defined only
as those by which France had in 1763 ceded to Spain. Hence the western bound-
ary of Louisiana was uncertain. Although subsequent agreements and usages
determined the boundary to be the crest of the Rocky Mountains as far south as
Texas, Tefl'erson seems to have thought that the entire continent to the Pacific
ought to he included in the exploration, for he saw also that the destiny of his
country required the ultimate union of Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the
great central valley. From these conceptions and aims of Jeflferson sprang that
most interesting and influential of all exploring expeditions in our history, the
Lewis and Clark exploration from St. Louis up the Missouri, across the Rocky
Mountains, and down the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Jef-
ferson had contemplated such an expedition a long time. Even as far back as
December 4, 1783, in a letter to George Rogers Clark, he raised the question of
an exploration from the Mississippi to California. In 1792 he took it up with
the American Philosophical Society, and even then Meriwether Lewis was eager
to head such an expedition. In a message to Congress of January 18, 1803, before
the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson developed the importance of a thorough ex-
ploration of the continent even to the Western Ocean. With his characteristic
secrecy, Jefi'erson was disposed to mask the great design of ultimate acquisition
of the continent under the appearance of scientific research. In a letter to Lewis
of April 27, 1803, he says : "The idea that you are going to explore the Mississippi
has been generally given out ; it satisfies public curiosity and masks sufficiently the
real destination." That real destination was. of course, the Pacific Ocean, and
the fundamental aim was the continental expansion of the then crude and
"straggling Republic of the West. Considering the momentous nature of the
undertaking and the possibilities of the unknown wilderness which it was to
cover, it is curious and suggestive that Lewis had estimated the expenses at $2,500,
and Jefi"erson called upon Congress for that amount of appropriation. An ex-
plorer of the present would hardly expect to go out doors on that scale of ex-
pense. Jeffersonian simplicity with a vengeance !

The scope of our book does not permit any detailed account of the preparations
or of the personnel of the party. Suffice it to say that the leader. Meriwether
Lewis, and his lieutenant, William Clark, were men of energy, discretion, courage,
and the other necessary qualities for such an undertaking. While not men of
education or general culture (Clark could not even spell or compose English cor-
rectly) they both had an abundance of common sense and in preparation for their
mission gained a hurried preparation in the essentials of botany, zoology, and
astronomy such as might enable them to observe and report intelligently upon the
various objects of discovery and the distances and directions traversed.

Jefferson's instructions to Captain Lewis give one an added respect for the
intelligence and broad humanity of the great democrat. Particularly did he enjoin

34 OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY

upon the leader of the party the wisdom of amicable relations with the natives.
The benevolent spirit of the President appears in his direction that kine-pox mat-
ter be taken and that its use for preventing small-pox be explained to the Indians.
All readers of American history should read these instructions, both for an
estimate of Jefferson personally, and for light they throw on the conditions and
viewpoints of the times.

The number in the party leaving St. Louis was forty-five. But one death
occurred upon the whole journey, which lasted from May 14, 1804, to September
23, 1806. Never perhaps did so extended and difficult an expedition suffer so
little. And this was the more remarkable from the fact that there was no physician
nor scientific man with the party and that whatever was needed in the way of
treating the occasional sicknesses or accidents must be done by the captains.
While to their natural force and intelligence the party owed a large share of its
immunity from disaster, good fortune surely attended them. This seems the
more noticeable when we reflect that this was the first journey across a wilderness
afterwards accentuated with every species of suft'ering and calamity.

The members of the party were encouraged to preserve journals and records
to the fullest degree, and from this resulted a fullness of detail by a number of
the men as well as the leaders which has delighted generations of readers ever
since. .\nd in spite of the fact that none of the writers had any literary genius,
these journals are fascinating on account of the nature of the undertaking and a
certain glow of enthusiasm which invested with a charm even the plain and homely
details of the long journey.

The first stage of the expedition was from St. Louis, May 14. 1804, to a point
1,600 miles up the Missouri, reached November 2. There the party wintered in a
structure which they called Fort Mandan. The location was on the west bank of
the Missouri, op]30site the present City of Pierre. The journey had been made by
boats at an average advance of ten miles a day. The river, though swift and with
frequent shoals, offered no serious impediments, even for a long distance above
Fort Mandan.

After a long, cold winter in the country of the Mandans. the expedition re-
sumed their journey up the ]Missouri on April 7, 1805. Of the interesting details
of this part of their course we cannot speak. Reaching the head-waters of the
Missouri on August 12, they crossed that most significant spot, the Great Divide.
A quotation from the journal of Captain Lewis indicates the lively sentiments
with which they passed from the Missouri waters to those of the Columbia: "As
they proceeded, their hope of seeing the waters of the Columbia rose to almost
painful anxiety; when at the distance of four miles from the la.st abrui)t turn of
the stream, they reached a small gap formed by the high mountains which recede
on either side, leaving room for the Indian road. From the foot of one of the
lowest of these mountains, which rises with a gentle ascent for about half a mile,
issued the remotest water of the Missouri. They had now reached the hidden
sources of that river which had never before been seen by civilized man ; and as
they quenched their thirst at the chaste and icy fountain — as they sat down by
the brink of the little rivulet which yielded its distant and modest tribute to the
parent ocean — thev felt themselves rewarded for all their labors and difficulties.
* * * They found the descent much steeper than on the eastern side, and at
the distance of three-quarters of a mile, reached a handsome, bold creek of cold.

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 35

clear water running to the westward. They stopped to taste for the first time the
waters of the Columbia."

After some very harassing and toilsome movements in that vast cordon of
peaks in which lie the cradles of the Alissouri, Yellowstone, Snake, Clearwater,
and Bitterroot rivers — more nearly reaching starvation point than at any time
on the trip — the party emerged upon a lofty height from which their vision swept
over a vast expanse of open prairie, in which it became evident that there were
many natives and, as they judged, the near vicinity of the great river, which, as
they thought, would carry them in short order to the Western Ocean of their
quest. They little realized that they were yet more than six hundred miles from
the edge of the continent. Descending upon the plain, they made their way to the
Kooskooskie, now known as the Clearwater River. As judged by Olin D.
Wheeler in his invaluable book. "On The Trail of Lewis and Clark," the explorers
crossed from what is now Montana into the present Idaho at the Lolo Pass, and
proceeded thence down the broken country between the north and middle forks
of the Kooskooskie, reaching the junction on September 26. The camp at that
spot was called Canoe Camp. There they remained nearly two weeks, most of
them sick through overeating after they had sustained so severe a fast in the
savage defiles of the Bitter Roots, and from the effects of the very great change
in temperature from the snowy heights to the hot valley below. At Canoe Camp
they constructed boats for the further prosecution of their journey. They left
their thirty-eight horses with three Indians of the Chopunnish or Pierced-Nose
tribe, or Nez Perce as we now know them.

With their canoes they entered upon a new stage of their journey, one easy
and pleasant after the hardships of the mountains. Down the beautiful Koos-
kooskie, then low in its autumn stage, they swept gaily, finding frequent rapids,
though none serious. The pleasant-sounding name Kooskooskie, which ought to
be preserved (though Clearwater is appropriate and sonorous), was supposed by
the explorers to be the name of the river. This it appears was a misapprehension.
The author has been told by a very intelligent Indian named Luke, living at
Kamiah, that the Indians doubtless meant to tell the white men that the stream
was Koos, koos, or zvater, zvatcr. Koos was and still is the Nez Perce word for
water. Luke stated that the Indians did not regularly have names for streams,
but only for localities, and referred to rivers as the water or koos belonging to
some certain locality.

After a prosperous descent of the beautiful and impetuous stream for a dis-
tance estimated by them at fifty-nine miles (considerably overestimated) the
party entered a much larger stream coming from the south. This they under-
stood the Indians to call the Kimooenim. They named it the Lewis in honor of
Captain Lewis. It was the great Snake River of our present maps. The writer
has been told by Mr. Thomas Beall of Lewiston that the true Indian name is
Twelka. Still another native name is Shahaptin. The party was now at the
present location of Lewiston and Clarkston, one of the most notable regions in
the Northwest for beauty, fertility, and all the essentials of capacity for sustain-
ing a high type of civilized existence. The land adjoining Snake River on the
west is Asotin County, one of the components of our history. The party camped
on the right bank just below the junction, and that first camp of white men was
nearly opposite both Lewiston and Clarkston of today. They say that the Indians

36 OLD WAIJ.A WALLA COUNTY

flocked frciin all directions to see them. The scantiness of their fare had brought
them to the stage of eating dog-iiieal, which they say excited the ridicule of the
natives. The Indians gave them to understand that the soutliern ))ranch was
na\igable up about sixty miles ; that not far from its mouth it received a branch
from the south, and at two days' march up a larger branch called Pawnashte, on
which a chief resided who had more horses than he could count.

The first of these must be the Asotin Creek, unless indeed they referred to the
Grande Ronde, which is the first large stream, but is considerable distance from
the junction. The Pawnashte must have been the Salmon, the largest tributary of
the Snake. The Snake at the point of the camp of the explorers was discovered
to be about three hundred yards wide. The party noticed the greenish blue color
of the Snake, while the Kooskooskie was as clear as crystal. The Indians at this
point are described as of the Chopunnish or Pierced-Nose nations, the latter of
those names translated by the French voyageurs into the present Xez Perce. Ac-
cording to the obser\ations of the party, the men were in person stout, fwrtly,
well-looking men; the women small, with good features and generally handsome.
The chief article of dress of the men w^as a "buffalo or elk-skin robe decorated
with beads, sea-shells, chiefly mother-of-pearl, attached to an otter-skin collar
and hung in the hair, which falls in front in two queues; feathers, paints of dif-
ferent kinds, principally white, green, and light blue, all of which they find in
their own country. The dress of the women is more simple, consisting of a long
skirt of arg-alia or ibex-skin, reaching down to the ankles without a girdle; to this
are tied little pieces of brass and shells and other small articles." Further on the
journal states again: "The Chopunnish have few amusements, for their life is
painful and laborious; and all their exertions are necessary to earn even their
precarious subsistence. During the summer and autumn they are busily occupied
in fishing for salmon and collecting their winter store of roots. In the winter they
hunt the deer on snow-shoes over the plains, and towards spring cross the moun-
tains to the Missouri for the purpose of trafficking for buffalo robes." It may be
remarked here parenthetically that there is every indication that buflfalo formerly
inhabited the Snake and Columbia plains. In fact, buffalo bones ha\e been found
in recent years in street excavations at Spokane. What cataclysm may have led
to their extermination is hidden in obscurity. But at the first coming of the
whites it was discovered that one of the regular occupations of the natives was
crossing the Rocky Mountains to hunt or trade for buffalo.

Soon after resuming the journey on October ii, the explorers noted with
curiosity one of the vajwr baths common among those Indians, which they say
differed from those on the frontiers of the United States or in the Rocky Moun-
tains. The bath-house was a hollow square six or eight feet deep, formed in the
river bank by damming up with mud the other three sides and covering the whole
completely except an aperture about two feet wide at the top. The bathers
descended through that hole, taking with them a jug of water and a number of
hot rocks. They would throw the water on the rocks until it steamed and in that
steam they would sit until they had perspired sufficiently, and then they would
plunge into cold water. This species of entertainment seems to have been very
sociable, for one seldom bathed alone. It was considered a great affront to decline
an invitation to join a bathing party.

The explorers .seem to have had a very calm and uneventful descent of Snake

OLD WALLA WALLA COUNTY 37

River. They describe the general lay of the country accurately, noting that
beyond the steep ascent of 200 feet (it is in reality a great deal more in all the
upper part of this portion of Snake River) the cotuitry becomes an open, level,
and fertile plain, entirely destitute of timber. They note all the rapids with suf-
ficient particularity to enable anyone thoroughly familiar with the river to identify
most of them. They make special observation of the long series of rapids com-
monly known now as the Riparia and Texas Rapids, and below these observe a
large creek on the left which they denominate as Kimooenim Creek. This is
rather odd, for that had already been noted as the native name of the main river.
A few miles further down they pass through a bad rapid but twenty-five yards
wide. Of course, it must be remembered that the time was October and the river
was about at its lowest. This was the narrow crack of the Palouse Rapids,
which, however, is not so narrow as they estimated, even at low water. At the
end of this rapid they discovered a large river on the right, to which they gave
the name of Drewyer, one of their party, their mighty hunter in fact. This was
a many-named stream, for it was later the Pavion, the Pavillion, and at the last
the present Palouse, the equivalent, we are told again by Thomas Beall, for goose-
berry. The principal rapids below the entrance of the Palouse are known at pres-
ent as Fishhook, Long's Crossing, Pine Tree, the Potato Patch, and Five Mile.
Five Mile looked so bad to them that they unloaded the canoes and made a port-
age of three-quarters of a mile. At a distance below this, which they estimated
as seven miles, they reached that interesting place wliere the great northern and
southern branches of the Big River unite. They were then at the location of the
present Village of Burbank. Many interesting events and observations are
chronicled of their stay at that point. Soon after their arrival a regular procession
of 200 Indians from a camp a short distance up the Columbia came to visit them,
timing their approach with the music of drums, accompanied with the voice.
There seems to have followed a regular love-feast, both parties taking whiffs of
the friendly pipe and expressing as best they could their common joy at the
meeting. Then came a distribution of presents and a mutual pledging of good will.
The captains measured the rivers, finding the Columbia 960 yards wide and
the Snake .575. From their point of observation across the continued plain they
noted how it rose into the heights on the farther side of the river. They had
already taken into account the far distant mountains to the south, our own Blue
Mountains, which they thought about sixty miles distant, just about the right
estimate. It is to be hoped that it was one of the perfect days not infrequent in
October and that the azure hues of those mountains which we love today were
before them in all their rich, soft splendor. They noted in the clear water of the
river the incredible number of salmon. The Indians gave them to understand
that frequently in the absence of other fuel they burned the fish that, having been
thrown upon the bank, became so dry as to make excellent fuel. These Indians
were of a tribe known as Sokulks. According to the description they were hardly
so good-looking a people as the Chopunnish