USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 27
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THE RATTLESNAKE.
There are various traditions among the Indians, relative to the first days of man upon the earth, all more or less pointing backward remote period when some oc- currences took place. Lapse of time. different environments surrounding, and the natural changes in the word- ing of the circumstances causing tale of happening to materially change. All of them have a version of man's creation. a flood, cause for the changes in the earth's surface and concerning phenomena.
Among the numberless legends, there are several wherein a white man or wc- man, sometimes both, occupied a prom- inent part in the world's beginning. Rarely is it, however, that statement is made that this continent was peopled in the first instance by a race descended from white ancestors, who came from an- other land, and that situate across the main.
A tradition current among the Flat- heads bears out this idea. They say, that a long time ago their forefathers came from far over the waters, so long ago in
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the past that the stars of night had not been formed and the sun nowhere near its present size.
This mystic people were all gigantic in stature and very warlike. There came a time in their existence that they were ruled over by Sko-malkt, a woman. To a portion of her subjects her reign was unsatisfactory and they brought about an insurrection. Gathering her warriors about her, she gave rebellion battle, driv- ing her foes before her towards the sea until they had retreated to the outer con- fines of a small penninsula putting out from the main land. Here they made a desperate stand, defeating all efforts made to capture them. or force capitu- lation upon terms the besieging officers offered. At last, Sko-malkt commanded that the narrow strip of land connecting be severed at the next ebbing tide. This order was carried out and away went her discontented subjects drifting toward the east to battle with wind and wave on ocean's breast.
For many days they were tossed here and there. So long that the food supply on hand was exhausted. Starvation coming upon them, all but two, a man and a woman, soon paid nature's debt. Their lives were saved by the coming upon the shore of a disabled and helpless whale. About this time they noticed that their island was slowly sinking, and made preparation to prevent their going down with it by the construction of a canoe. This completed, they placed therein a supply of whale's blubber and pushed off to await the will of time and tide. Many days and nights intervened before they reached the eastern shores of the Pacific. These were then much farther inland than now, the surf beating at that time upon a shore line which is at present western boundary of the Oka- nogan country.
They had been so long exposed to in- clement weather that their original whiteness of complexion had assumed a dusky hue. From this pair descended the Indians of today, the reddish color of their storm-tossed ancestors becoming one of the characteristics of the race.
AN ANIMAL AND STAR UNITE.
The Makah Indians of Neah Bay have a legend to the effect that the creation of their ancestors was due to the union of some animal with a star which fell from heaven. That the men among them par- took more of the nature of the terrestial body, while the women inherited the characteristics of the earthly parent. Through this belief arises the idea that the males among them are the superior of the females, and should be waited up- on by the latter, which is the usual cus- tom, not only among them, but among all tribes.
HALF GODLIKE, HALF ANIMAL.
The Shastas ascribe their origin to the falling of one of the daughters of the .Great Spirit from the top of Mt. Shasta to its base, where she fell among a fam- ily of grizzly bears. Until she was grown she was brought up in ignorance of her parentage, and on arriving at ma- turity, married one of the sons of the mother grizzley who had reared her from infancy. After her marriage she gave birth to children who were the pro- genitors of the Indians. This is why the Indians living around Mt. Shasta will never kill a grizzley bear, and when- ever one of their number is killed by such kings of the forest, they are burned where they fall, and all passers by throw upon the place a stone until a great pile is erected to mark the spot.
BAD EGGS.
Ages ago an old man by the name of Toe-oo-lux, or South Wind, while trav- eling to the north, met an old woman called Quoots-hooi, who was an ogress and a giantess. Toe-oo-lux, being hun- gry, asked for food. She told him that she was herself without anything to eat. and gave him a net, with advice to try his luck at catching fish. He accord- ingly dragged the net and succeeded in securing in its meshes a "tenas eh-ko-le" or grampus (little whale). This he was about to kill with his stone knife, when the old woman cried out to him to use a
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sharp shell instead, and not to cut it crossways, but slit it down the back.
Toe-oo-lux was probably related to the bird now called a jackass, and stub- bornly refused to do as directed, cutting the whale across the side, and was about . to take off a piece of blubber, when the fish immediately changed into an im- mense bird, that, when flying, its wings completely obscured the sun, and the noise made by their sweep shook the earth. As soon as the transformation took place, the bird, which the Indians call Hah-ness, or thunder-bird, flew away to the north and lit upon Swal-al- a-host (Saddle mountain), situated not far from the mouth of the Columbia riv- er. Toe-oo-lux and the ogress then journeyed northward to search for Hah- ness, and one day, when Quoots-hooi was engaged in picking berries, she found the nest of the thunder-bird, full of eggs, which she thought of making a meal of.
The first egg she broke did not seem to be a good one, whereupon she threw it down the mountain side, before it reached its base, however, it became an Indian. This was continued until there were no more eggs, but in the valley be- low was gathered the ancestors of the tribes constituting the Chehalis. nation. It is said that the husband of Hah-ness was the god E-cah-ni, who ran a ferry across the river named after him, which empties into the ocean a few miles below the Columbia's mouth. .
It is probable that this tradition caus- es their superstitious belief that the first salmon caught must not be cut across, but split down the back, otherwise the salmon would leave, and no more be taken during that season.
THE RAVEN A CREATOR.
Among some of the tribes living along Puget Sound, there are traditions that the creator of the first Indian race wis a raven. While to 1:im is conceded the fact that his was a master hand in the work, its accomplishment is related in so many ways, and in so brief a manner,
that it is difficult to frame the legend into anything more than a mere state- ment.
CREATED FROM THE BEAVER GOD.
There lived east of the mountains in the "Wee-te-tash" age, a family of giants, consisting of four brothers and a sister. The latter wanted some beaver- fat, and asked her brothers to procure it for her. Her request was no easy matter to bring about, as there was but one beaver in all the Pacific Northwest at that time, and was of monstrous size, ferocious and dangerous. This did not, however, deter the brothers from their endeavor to seek him out, kill him and bring home to their sister the wonted fat.
After searching for him for some time he was at last found near the mouth of the Palouse river, up which he was turn- ed. A little distance up the stream they came near enough to strike him with their spears, but he suceeded in getting away from them again, making, in the struggle, the first rapids of the river, and then dashed onward. Again the broth- ers over took hin, pinning him to the river's bed with their weapons, but he escaped a second time, making in this encounter the second falls of the river. Again he was pursued and captured, this time with disastrous results to him, still he was not overcome without a stubborn fight, in which his struggles formed the great falls of the river. The fat secured, the brothers cut up the remainder of the body and threw it in various directions, and as the pieces fell here and there they became Indians, the ancestors of the present Cayuse, Walla Walla, Umatilla, Nez Perce and other tribes. The Cay- uses, so daring, energetic and more suc- cessful in days past than their neighbors, were said to have been the beaver's heart.
CHINOOK ACCOUNT OF TRIBAL ORIGIN.
The Chinooks acount for the origin of the various tribes in a somewhat similar manner, and also as to how some of the
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great lakes, they say existed east of the mountains, were drained. According to their legend, there lived in the long, long ago, in Lake Cle-el-lum, a monster beav- er god, who claimed himself a sort of Neptune of that body of water and its surrounding shores. Although the lake abounded with fish, much more than he could possibly consume, he would not permit anyone to come near it, expecting him to share his food supply. Many champions had sought to kill him, but he had overcome them all. Some he drag- ged into the waters and drowned them, others had died of fright at his ferocious appearance before they had attacked him. His selfishness coming to the knowledge of Coyote, he determined to visit the scene and bring about a better state of affairs. Arming himself with a spear, which he fastened to his wrist. - with a strong cord, he approached the lake. Upon his arrival the beaver dis- puted his right to trespass upon the grounds of the lake, when Coyote threw his spear into him. The beaver plunged down to the bottom of the lake, drag- ging poor Coyote with him. On and on through its waters they went, each en- deavoring to get away from the other. Finally they tore through the mountains into the lake which covered the Kittitas valley, and from there they threshed around, cutting the Natchez gap, and on and on, cutting the Yakima gap. At last they reached the Columbia, where Coy- ote endeavored to check the speed of the beaver by grasping the trees along the banks of that river. No tree or stone would stay the beaver's progress. as its
forward moving seemed to be aided by some invincible power. The monster's strength held out until it reached the mouth of the river, when, through loss of blood and injury from the spear- thrust, its life went out as it reached the breakers. Coyote found himself so far exhausted that he had to call on the musk-rat for assistance. When he reached the shore he took the beaver, which he brought to land with him, and cut it up, making of it the present race of Indians. Out of the legs he made the Cayuses, saying that they would al- ways be swift runners. Of the head he made the Nez Perces, Walla Wallas and kindred tribes, saying that such people should be intelligent and strong in war. Of the ribs, the Yakimas were made, and out of the belly the coast tribes, fat, short people, with big stomachs. Other tribes were made of the remaining parts, each being endowed with characteristics rep- resented by them. The blood he took up in hand and threw it towards the country of the Snakes and Sioux, indi- cating in the action that these tribes should be a people of blood and vio- lence. Upon completing his work he again returned to the upper waters of the Columbia. Somehow, in his creation of the coast tribes, he failed to make them perfect, leaving them without a mouth. The god E-cah-ni, however, hapened to pass along and seeing the fault, rectified it by taking his stone knife and cutting a mouth for them, imperfectly, though, as they all were crooked.
F. H. SAYLOR.
The first debating society organized west of the Rocky mountains had its birth at Oregon City. There is a con- troversy as to its proper name. Among those given are, Falls Debating Society, Falls City Debating Society. Oregon Ly- ceum, and Falls City Debating Society and Oregon Lyceum. It was organized
in the autumn of 1843, and nearly all of the men then in the Willamette valley, and might be added, Oregon, were mem- bers of it. Questions concerning the welfare of the settlers were discussed during its meetings, and it is more than possible that at such times the plans were laid for the establishing of the Provision- al government on a permanent basis.
THE LOST CABIN.
By Sam L. Simpson
I had the "blues." For already I had become satisfied that the young metrop- olis of the Northwest, which Hope, witli the typical vermillion finger, had pointed out to me as the city among ten thou- sand where crowding cases and flowing fees would overwhelm the ambitious dis- ciple of Blackstone, had really more "law" than it could conveniently carry with any prospect of municipal progress. Had every inhabitant of the place given himself up entirely to the spirit of acri- monious and implacable litigation, the felicitous equipose of demand and sup- ply would not yet have been restored; on the contrary, a gaunt forest of legai "limbs" would have remained idle and unappropriated-waving bleakly in the winter of inevitable decay. A "heart of oak," supposing it to be in the law busi- ness, could not, under these circumstan- ces, have been joyously imponderable; and it was no wonder that my own, be- ing of very common timber, weighed heavily on this April night. and dragged me down into fathomless depths of de- spondency. What was I to do when the few hundred dollars brought with me had wasted utterly away? This inter- rogatory rose upon me again and again with a sphinx-like emphasis that was appalling. While amusing myself with reveries of this cheerful nature, some one rapped at my office door, and, in re- sponse to my "Come in," not uttered in the gentlest tones, a tall young man, of dark complexion and habited in a suit of heavy brown cloth, entered. I recog- nized him, after the usual salutations had passed, as a person who had, for several weeks, been sojourning at my hotel, the C- House. Taking the chair I prof- fered he seated himself near the stove. and. bending upon me from under a pair of heavy, black eyebrows, a glance glit-
tering and keen with scrutiny, said, "It's a nasty night for April!"
"It is, indeed," I replied, stooping to replenish the stove; "and you seem to have had the benefit of it."
"Yes, I had some difficulty in finding your office-and that reminds me that I did not come here to discuss the weath- er, but to talk business."
He bent his head for a moment as if to reflect, and I fixed myself in an attitude of respectful attention, my first fee being the idea which was uppermost in my mind.
"Are you satisfied with this?" and as he spoke, he waved his hand satirically toward the single Falstaffian column of law-books, largely recruited from the Patent-Office Department, on a shelf against the wall opposite.
I smiled, and without waiting for fur- ther answer, he proceeded:
"If you succeed at all in the practice of the law in Portland, it will be after years of patience, persistent effort and a life of hideous economy and privation. I believe that you realize this yourself, and for that reason I have come here to- night to share with you a valuable secret and to solicit your assistance in a project which, if successfully prosecuted, will enrich us both."
A suspicion of double-barreled bur- glary flashed across me, and I suppose he must have seen something of the kind in my face, for he resumed immediately, with an impatient gesture, "Nay, it is honorable: and all I ask of you for the confidence I am about to repose in you, is a pledge of secrecy in the event that you do not join me in the project to which I have alluded."
Having received every evidence of good faith on my part, he drew his chair closer to me, and then looking toward the door, suggested that I had better
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lock it. I got up to attend to that, and when I resumed my seat beside him, he had lighted a cigar, and was evidently going to be comfortable. He held his cigar case toward me, and asked:
"Did you ever hear the story of 'The Lost Cabin.'"
I never had.
"No? I will tell it to you now. In the spring of 185-, while the southern border of Oregon was ringing with the battles of that memorable war between the heroic settlers of the territory and the Shasta and Rogue River Indians, two brothers by the name of Wilson- James and Henry-arrived at Jackson- ville, and, getting together a small party of hardy and experienced miners, set out, fully armed, to prospect for gold along the rivers and among the broken ranges of mountains southward of that -
. then prosperous mining town. The party had been out for several weeks, meeting with but little success, and had just lost one of their number in a skir- mish with the Indians, when a council was called, and all but the Wilson broth- ers concurred in the opinion that it was best to return to Jacksonville, and wait for the conclusion of the war.
The Wilsons were of a haughty, ob- stinate spirit, thorough in mountain craft, and brave to recklessness. With them, daring was a habit and danger a luxury, and they held out against the arguments and entreaties of their more prudent comrades, until it was agreed finally, that they should have the greater part of the provisions, ammunition, etc., and continue in their search, while the others would retrace their steps by the shortest and safest route.
"On the morning of parting, James Wilson rose up in his stirrups, and swinging his rifle aloft with an arm splendidly muscular, exclaimed: "Good- bye, boys! and good luck to you, but we can't go back. There is gold somewhere vonder behind that smoky line of moun- tains, and we are going to dig it out, though all the redskins of the wilderness stand guard over it! We'll come back rich as kings, boys! or leave our bones
to bleach there; it's a glorious battle- ground!'
"This high speech fired the heart of of the retreating party for a moment, and some of them turned, as though they, too, would fain peril their lives for that without which life is more bitter than death; but the momentary flash of heroism went down, and, shaking their heads in denial, they rode away, shout- ing back rude words of cheer.
"They never met again. The main division reached Jacksonville after many days of wearisome and perilous travel. and waited in vain through lengthening months for some tidings of the Wilsons. Their story is sealed to all, save me. I owe my own knowledge of their further progress and final fate to the fact that we were cousins and confidential friends. With this word of explanation, I will give you so much of the history of the brothers as came to me in the letters of James, written at San Francisco, in the year 1859. I have them here"-and, as he talked, he drew forth a packet of per- haps a dozen letters, much worn, creased and soiled, and held them in his hand- "but I have no need to recur to them, as I have read them many times.
"Well, from the point of separation the Wilsous continued in a southeasterly direction. They at first traveled with every precaution against surprise, but finally relaxed their vigilance, as they were seemingly beyond the range of the hostile tribes.
"At last they reached a green and narrow valley, walled in by precipitous mountains, around which meandered, over and among the boulders of richly- colored rock and across beds of smooth and shining pebbles, the limpid waters of a snow-fed stream. Here they determin- ed to rest and recruit themselves and their jaded animals, while they leisurely and thoroughly prospected for gold the region immediately about them.
"Desiring to remain ir. the valley for some time, they concluded to put up a rude log cabin, which would protect their camp equipage, and, pierced with
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loop-holes, fort fashion, would serve as a defense against Indian attack.
"On the morning after their arrival, Henry began to construct timber out of which to construct the temporary home and fortress, while James went forth, gun in hand, to replenish their impover- ished larder. About ten o'clock he kill- ed a deer which he shouldered and start- ed for camp. He reached the little stream perspiring and thirsty, for the day was warm, and threw his limp burden down upon a pebbly bar while he stoop- ed to get a drink.
"No sooner had his lips touched the water than his eye was arrested by the sparkle of certain small objects scattered among the gravel of the bottom. A miner is ever on the alert; and so, plunging his hand into the pellucid wat- er, he drew forth a handful of the gravel for examination.
"It was gold!
"Yes, there it was, in coarse yellow grains and lumps-richer than a dream. He dropped suddenly to examine the bar on which it stood; it, too, was gorg- ed with the glittering metal, and he rose with a whoop of joy that made the woods echo, and brought Henry running to the spot-for he had heard it and recognized his brother's voice, on the other side of the little valley. You can imagine their ecstacy. They had known poverty all their lives, and there before them was wealth-sudden, splendid, exhaustless. But I must not linger. Working to- gether they finished their cabin that day, and the next began to gather the gold. The labor was not great, and within two weeks' time they had heaped together a marvelous quantity of it, and began to contemplate a return.
"Life was now precious, and, after thinking it over and weighing the chanc- es for and against the practicability of getting back unmolested, they were con- vinced that it was best to remain where they were until the volunteer forces un- der General Lane, which they knew were on the way, had reached the hostile country and relieved the hard paths of mountain travel from the wily foe that
lurked on every step. Having made an excavation in the center of the cabin floor, they lined it carefully with rock and, in the vault thus formed, deposited their treasure, tied up in bags of dried and undressed deerskin. This was done in case an attack from the Indians should compel them to flee, when, of course, it would be impossible to carry the heavy metal.
"But no attack was made, and, after a lapse of several weeks, they arose one morning and agreed that it was time to be upon the homeward trail. The sheeny forest leaves waved in the soft winds of morning, and the fresh air was musical with the songs of bird, as, fully armed, they strode forth spiritedly to bring in their horses, which had grown fat and vigorous upon the bountiful pas- ture,
The cabin stood near the stream, in the edge of the wood, and when they had approached within forty yards of it. suddenly a score of rifles crashed upon them from the bank, followed by the ter- rible war-cry of the Shastas.
Henry, who it happened was in front of James leading two of the horses, sank with a deadly groan, his horses rearing and falling at the same time. The In- dians burst from their cover and sprang forward with all the echoes of pande- monium. James emptied his rifle with fearful aim among them, and drew his revolver. The Indians knew the kind of music they had to face, and, having neglected to reload, dashed back to the cover of the bank. The resolute miner saw his salvation in this movement, and hastily tossing a noose halter over the head of the only horse that remained uninjured, leaped upon his back and was out of immediate danger in an instant- careering down the valley with the scat- tering shots of the enemy singing over his head. The war party being afoot he was not followed, and finally reached the frontier settlements, after a journey of incredible hardship.
"As the Indian war continued without abatement, he took passage to San Fran- cisco in order to obtain medical advice
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in regard to his health, which exposure and privation had badly broken. Then it was that he began the correspondence with me. I was in Chicago at the time.
"Unexpectedly receiving news of his death, in the fall of 1859, I hastened to San Francisco, and received from the hands of his landlord a little bundle of papers, among which I found this. Read it; no explanation is required."
He handed me a folded sheet of paper, on which a letter had been begun, in a cramped, ungainly, but still legible hand. Here it is:
"San Francisco, Oct. 26, '59.
"Dear Cousin: I had hoped to see you before this, but the end has come sooner than I expected. I dreamed of that cabin in the wilds of Oregon, last night, and saw poor Harry fall again be- fore the cowardly shots of these coward- ly Shastas; and I think it is nearly over. I must write what I intended to have spoken, and endeavor to give you such directions as will enable you to find the cabin, for you must find it, Theodore, and enjoy its hiden gold. The first part of your course is plain enough: Start from Jacksonville and keep the Califor- nia road for-
Here the hand of death stayed the re- vealing pen and there remained only a black and shapeless ink-blot, as a fit em- blem of the mystery that wrapped the whereabouts of the lost cabin. I turned from the paper and looked at Harper- for such was the name by which he in- troduced himself to me.
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