USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 27
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Some words from the French are ca-po, for coat; la pote, door; la pool, fowl; le see-zo, scissors; la goon, gum, pitch, glue; la monta, the mountain; la peep, the pipe; la pome, an apple; la shase, a chair; la bisquee, a biscuit, and le pan, bread. Many of the words are Indian, as quis-quis, squirrel, and hai- qua, shell money, wampum.
This is a lesson on the origin of all language. The Romans of old con- quered Italy. Gaul, Spain. Their lan- guage with that of the conquered tribes grew into Italian, French, Spanish, the Latin tongues of today. In the same way our own beautiful English was formed out of the German-Latin-Nor- man-Anglo-Saxon.
This birth of a language within the memory of living men has aroused great interest among ethnologists. Collections of its curiosities are found in many East- ern libraries. The Smithsonian Institu- tion has sent eminent philologists to in- vestigate this phenomenon. Many pub- lications by students of folklore are now in press, and learned men are burning the midnight oil over the mysteries of our Oregon Chinook language.
EVA EMERY DYE.
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INDIAN WAR . RECOLLECTIONS. Related by A. H. Sale, an Indian War Veteran, to H. S. Lyman.
INTRODUCTORY.
One mellow September afternoon, the scribe, who makes pilgrimages here and there seeking whom or what he may devour, was rowing and drifting on one of our delightful tide-water streams, and idling along, as tide and wind were both favoring him, and romancing in imag- ination as he took observations upon the scenic shores.
It was on Young's river, one of the latest affluents of the Columbia: and up from the margin of the water the reeds and cat-tails were nodding in the full stream. The tideland meadows swept away for a number of miles; the low hills, that here and there abutted on the broad waterway, sloped back, and were scar- let with vine maple copses in successive swells; while, distant and purple, airy as a cloud, and seeming to be attracted by the azure rather than supported by the earth, Saddle mountain, the three-parted relic of our age of fire, and the guardian mountain height of the Columbia estu- ary region, lay basking in the afternoon sunshine. It bore southeast three leagues distant, to use the old navigators' style.
At the end of the boat ride, being thereby placed in a calm and receptive frame, and well prepared for hospitality, the scribe found himself at one of those old pioneer homes, where hospitality is unstinted; and, after the abundant board succeeds the glowing hearth, and the delightful conversation.
The conversation in this case was par- ticularly charming, on this September evening, as tue pioneer sat in his arm- chair and smoked and talked, while the firelight played over his features, and the scribe needed only to listen and also to
read the history of a life as written in the play of expression under a face lined by sixty years of active life.
Such a situation affords the most val- uable conditions for historical review; for, under the glow of memory and gen- iality, the old man became young once more, his voice reproduces the tones and words first spoken forty years ago; his mind creates again the scenes and situ- ations that are but faintly described in books; and under a certain almost hyp- notic influence of voice and eye and mind, the listener is let into the old world as it was, and hears and sees what otherwise he only reads about.
To get our history in its color, intent and feeling, get the old pioneer to talk- ing before the evening fire; and let it be a fireplace-no dull stove. Let him see what he tells, looking into the coals; and you read between the lines, watch- ing his face in the flicker of the flames!
It is only the ashes of such a conver- sation, to adapt a simile of Dr. Holmes. that the scribe can save up, but anything that a pioneer tells, even only kept in the ashes, is worth saving, and there are always those who will value it: certainly will their descendants. Individual ac- counts of the struggles of forty years ago, from the lips of the participants. ar timely. Many of them are now dead: some of the survivors are poor and dis- abled, and all are beyond the meridian of life, and it is but fitting that their here- ism be not only remembered, but made a matter of record for the benefit of fu- ture generations.
The old volunteer wishes it under- stood that he don't intend to give full
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tal of the Indian wars, only that por- „ which came under his personal ob- w vation and experience, as one of the testants, and it will be the purpose : the writer to follow his language of ;union, historical fact, of the whites and . ( Indians, and the causes which led p to the conflicts between them, as near « such can be recalled. As an introduc- ·un. he began somewhat in this wise:
It is surprising how little is known of f.c history of the Indian wars of the Pacific Northwest. Those of colonial lays have occupied a goodly space in ·raders, pamphlet and historic page, and the names of Powhattan, King Philip, Mimoset, Tecumseh and Osceola perpet- stated in various ways, but the struggles our pioneers had with Kamiakin, Old John. Polotkin, Leschi and Tipsu, and the heroisms of the veterans who fought and conquered them, have been looked upon as trifling incidents and disturb- ances of no consequence. As a matter i fact. however, for ten years, from 1847 :. , 1857, there were savage outbreaks, styl hard fighting.
It was the regulation sort of an Indian war: First a massacre, then the Indians on the warpath. and the necessity of a hurried, laborious and dangerous cam- ;aign of a few white men to drive off the savages.
The first of these wars began with the tra sacre of Dr. Whitman, and more than a dozen others. at Waiilatpu, No- sumber 7. 1847.
The whites in the Willamette valley ' -tantly sent an armed company to the By the help of Peter Ogden. shen a Hudson's Bay clerk, they recov- ·red the captives held by the Indians; "hey chastised the offending tribes, the "'avuses; and compelled them to give up
the chief murderers, who were brought to Oregon City and hanged.
The next war began with terrible massacres of miners and settlers in Southern Oregon, in 1853, and was hardly quelled before the big war of 1855 broke out.
The afterclap of all these wars was the defeat and massacre of Colonel Steptoe, in 1857, with his United States troops, on the steep butte that bears his name, in Eastern Washington, where the Indians had him surrounded and without water, and finally came the decisive victory of General Wright.
The cause of all these wars was much the same-the white men were encroach- ing upon the Indians, and often disre- garded their rights, real or supposed. The Indians' idea, too, that they pos- sessed the earth and the land of their fathers by simply using the game, fish and wild fruit, was irreconcilable with the idea of the whites that land was in- tended for cultivation, and belongs to those who improve it. Still further, the Indian liked the British or "King George men," who cared only to trade furs with them; and disliked the American, or "Boston," who made settlements. opened farms. refused to marry with them, and prospected everywhere for gold; and when the Indians learned that not the British, with their beads and priests, but the Americans, with their plows, shovels and rifles, had the coun- try, they were ready for war.
War with the Indians at that time was a most serious thing to the young settle- ments in Oregon. In 1847, when the first of the wars began, the Americans in all Oregon, embracing all of the Pa- cific «Northwest, did not number over 10,000. In 1855 they did not exceed 30 .- 000. On the other hand, the Indians, in
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· the opinion of the one who gives these accounts, numbered, at a low estimate, 100,000. In the Willamette valley, in 1853, he still found many Indians. The Molallahs and Olillus, or "berry" In- dians, back of Oregon City; the Che- mekatas, near Salem; and the Calapooi- ahs, were still large tribes. On the coast, the Clatsops and Tillamooks and Nes- tuckas Siletz tribes were but little dimin- ished.
On Puget sound there were Indians by the thousand: east of the Cascades the Indians were numerous and warlike. The Walla Walla, Cayuses, Palouses and Spokanes, in what is now Eastern Wash- ington; the Wascos and Warm Springs in Oregon, south of The Dalles; and the Klikitats and Yakimas, north of the Co- lumbia, were all powerful tribes. Some of the Indians were educated, and many of them rich in horses and cattle. They were not only intelligent men and stub- born fighters, but had learned the use of powder and balls, and were armed with muskets. Many of them were dead shots. They were nearly as well armed as the whites, and even better mounted. They had also learned the necessity of united action. They had seen the Ca- yuse tribe easily overcome by the whites in Southern Oregon; they had seen the same thing repeated; but by a union of all the tribes, from the British on the north to California on the south, and from the ocean to the Rocky mountains, the most intelligent and daring Indian chiefs saw a prospect of crushing the hated Americans, and cost of transfer- ring their country to the British.
To Kamiakin, chief of the Yakimas, is generally given the credit of effecting
the union; and the completeness of all the tribes, and the co-operation of all at the same moment, shows his strength and sagacity. His plan was evidently to make one general massacre in all settle- ments at once, and to terrify the whites. and drive them all in toward their large towns. Then immediately he would hurl his bands of attack upon the towns and destroy them before the white men were able to alarm or resist.
One point needs to be borne in mind. The Oregon volunteers who went out to meet and give battle to the redskin were generally discredited and brought into disfavor by General Wool, the United States commanding officer on the coast.
Being independent men, the most of them settlers, miners or trappers, who thought they knew Indian warfare bet- ter than the United States regulars, they preferred not to enlist in the United States volunteer service, but to form companies and elect officers of their own. As such they organized and were recog- nized, and to some extent equipped by Governor Curry. Wool, seeing that he had no control over them, left the war mostly to the volunteers, and reported themas little better than guerrillas, which in point of military service they probably were. But in point of fact, they under- took and carried through a war which the United States troops were confessed- ly unable to manage with any force then on hand. Nevertheless, the bad report given them by General Wool is still heard here and there.
But you want to know of some of my experiences. so I will tell you of a trip to Colville mines, and my first experi- ence with Indians.
A TRIP TO COLVILLE MINES, AND MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH INDIANS.
Reports circulated of the discoveries of mines of fabulous wealth at this place were confirmed by the investigation of Dr. Wilson, a government mineralogist,
who was sent thither by the people of Portland. I was still living at Salem, and, with William Latshaw. Robert Hague, William Beale, Dr. Lucien Dan-
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tth and. N. Montgomery, formed a mipany to go to the mines.
It was early in June of 1855 that we Carted, packing our animals at Salem, and crossed the Cascade mountains by the Barlow toll road, and. although con- santly passing Indians in the mountains und as we journeyed up the banks of the olumbia river, had not the slightest dif- !wulty or delay from them until after traching the Snake river. Here an ex- uting scene occurred, bringing our whole party within a hair's breadth of extermination.
. We had crossed the Snake river near the mouth of the Palouse. and were on the north side. The Snake flows in very drep below the genera. level of the roll- ing plains of that upper country, and has high hills, or bluffy slopes from the ·hore. As we made our camp, each of tis went as usual for an armful of wood. I and all of the rest but one went down to the river side to find driftwood. Hav- ng got my load. I was in the lead going back, when I observed that there were :ao Indians at the camp. apparently auch excited, and kicking the fire out. About the same time I saw Montgom- ry, who had not gone with us to the "wer. rush off to where his saddle lay, .ad begin unfastening his gun. which vas tied to the saddle. Running up to "mn as quickly as possible. I was just in 'me to restrain him. seizing his gun by the barrel as he was in the act of level- ng it at the Indians, who were still by The fire.
"What is all this about?" I asked.
"Let me alone, or I'll shoot you," was Vi- answer, as he struggled to use his gun.
By this time the others came running up, and we threatened to tie Montgom- ery if he would not keep quiet and be-
have, until we found out what the trou- ble was. We were not disposed to get into trouble with the Indians without knowing the reason.
Turning then to the two Indians, I asked them what the trouble was about, and why they were stamping out our fire. One of them replied: "This is oui country, and you white men pass through it. You take our grass and wa- ter, and burn our wood. For that we do not care; but this man comes to our burying-ground and cuts down the mon- uments on the graves of our fathers!"
Then I saw what the trouble was. Montgomery had been up on the hill and taken the poles off of some of the Indian graves for firewood, and, with- out waiting to know why the two In- dians objected, he was ready to use his rifle on them there.
We easily made up the difficulty by paying the Indians two hickory shirts, one of which we confiscated from Mont- gomery.
On learning the cause of the Indians' objection, he himself saw his mistake, and was very glad that he had been re- strained.
Not half a mile from us, as we soon learned, there were at least 250 Indians of the Palouse tribe, under their chief, Old Ulitzonsem. If Montgomery had killed an Indian, we should have been attacked immediately, and probably not one of us left to tell the tale: and thus there would have occurred an Indian atrocity. Yet in reality it would have been brought on by a reckless man, who did not stop to consider the feelings .of the Indians.
Our next important meeting with In- dians was at Cold lake, where we made the next (or second next) encampment after our excitement with the Palouses.
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At this lake we were overtaken by Law-
That Lawyer had told the Indian to ac- yer, chief of the Nez Perces, and his. cept no pay for returning us our horses band. I had seen this chief at Salem the winter before. He was an educated In- dian, having attended a school at Wash- ington city. In intelligence and general ability he was the equal of either the sav- age Kamiakin, or the cunning Yellow Serpent.
We had camped at Cold lake, but, on awakening in the morning, were sur- prised and not a little annoyed by dis- covering that our horses had been stolen. In our plight, which was very awkward, we were interested to see a band of In- dians appear, and were relieved to find that they were Nez Perces. I was glad, indeed, to see Lawyer, whom I recog- nized, and who recognized me.
Spreading a blanket on the ground, I invited him to dismount and smoke with me, and he accepted most cordially. To my apology to the meager offering that I could present, he replied in excellent jargon that no apology was necessary; all was very well. He inquired about Colonel Nesmith, whom he had heard speak at a Jackson dinner at Salem.
He also asked about Governor Jo Lane. Soon he inquired about us, the object of our trip, and the loss of our horses. He drew out all the facts, and then, as he rose to leave, told his son Archie, a swarthy, bright young Indian of about 20, to stay with us, and if before . by friction, had set fire to the pack, and noon our horses were not returned to us. to drive up the Indian horses ranging about, and let us take our pick from them.
Archie remained; and within two hours our horses were returned to us.
was shown by an incident. I had a curi- ous pipe, which very much struck the fancy of the Indian who brought back our animals. He asked to look at it; and I handed it to him, saying that I would make him a present of it. But at this point Archie said something in Indian. and he immediately declined to accept it. I then offered the pipe to Archie, but he also refused to take it. It was prob- ably the direction of Lawyer that the act of reparation should not be paid for.
As the Indians who ran off the horses were Palouses, of Ulitzonsem's band. their prompt obedience to Lawyer's orders showed the extent of the influ- ence of the Nez Perces.
We had one more alarm, but this turned out a laughable scare. One morn- ing on the Spokane we were surprised at what appeared to be the discharge of a cannon. At the same time we heard a sound like a cavalry charge, and through the sagebrush we saw puffs of smoke. But what appeared was a terribly fright- ened horse, running at full speed, and pieces of pack articles strewn along the way. Come to find out, it was the ap- proach of Bonham, who was going through the country. In his pack he had incautiously put both powder and matches. The latter had become ignited exploded the powder. Fortunately, how- ever, no great damage was done, not even the horse being hurt.
We reached the mines without further incident, having on the whole been re- markably well treated by the Indians.
The first woolen mills established in the state were located at Salem, and Sequin, brought the first mail to Ore- were built by Joseph Watt.
Captain Z. C. Norton, of the brig gon which came in U. S. postal sacks.
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HALL J. KELLY.
This is a tribute from one who, in course of a long life of literary work and half a century of residence in Ore- Kon, has written, in desultory way, much · ! its early history, inspired to do so by sociation with fur traders, mountain- errs. missionaries and pioneers who came at an earlier date than did he. The favor of that earliest time was yet on the air when he came, and wide associa- tion with those who made earliest his- tory-when the morning dew of the carly day was yet on the' untamed wilds -lent a charm to that epoch that no oth- er can ever know.
In making a resume of the various · characters who left a personal impress on that time, he was strongly impressed with the story of Hall J. Kelly, who was inspired at an early day to have faith in this farthest West and to work earnest- ly for its settlement.
Hall J. Kelly was a man of education, a graduate of Harvard, a maker of pro- gressive school books, a competent surveyor, and interested
in the higher branches of mathematics. He had been successful as an educator and possessed some means. is early as 1815, when he was 24 years old, he became enthused with the Oregon question, when the only in- formation to be had was the Lewis and "larke expedition of 1806, and the dis- a-ters of the Pacific Fur Company in establishing Astoria in 1812. 14. He may have met at Boston men returned from adventurous voyages, trading on the northwest coast, and so have gained ideas as to the commercial value of this Ergion and possibilities of the future. He could have had very little general infor- mation of the west coast, certainly little "wcific knowledge as to the vast region
that was then practically unknown-save to the Hudson's Bay Company and its representatives. With wonderful mix- ture of faith and infatuation, he made the settlement and development of this region, and preservation of the Oregon title in the United States, the absorbing object of his entire life.
Let us concede in advance that the man had radical faults .of character, that he was conceited as to the value of his labors and to some extent unreasonable in his pretensions, but, when this is all said he must have been a man of force and definite purpose to expend 20 years of the prime of life in the attempt to preserve the American title to the ter- ritory of Oregon at that early day, and to entertain schemes for the settle- ment and development of that vast re- gion.
From the early date mentioned he wrote and published facts-as well as his conclusions from them-showing the practical value and ultimate importance of the west coast of America. Especial work must have been done to cause Floyd, of Virginia, to introduce the Or- egon question in the house of represen- tatives in 1820; some one must have studied the question in all its bearings, and discussed it publicly, to make it popular at that time. This Hall J. Kelly did. Bancroft, the historian of the Pa- cific, speaks slightingly of the Yankee schoolmaster: while he concedes that Kelly brought unselfish zeal and earnest Christian charity to his work, yet in be- ginning a lengthy notice he introduces him thus: "The Boston schoolmaster is a character the historian is not particu- lary proud of. He is neither a great hero nor a great rascal. He is great at nothing and is remarkable rather for his
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want of strength and in staggering for 50 years for an idea too big for him." Not stopping to criticise this, as an ex- ample of written history, I invoke sym- pathy for a man whose life was wrecked because he placed his faith and built hopes on this region when it was new to the world.
Kelly believed the fur trade would be of immense value; that fisheries on the whole coast could be made profitable; that the Asiatic trade could be controlled from here; that it devolved on the churches of the East to Christianize the Indians of the vast West. 4
Whatever were the sources of Kelly's facts, they were wonderfully correct. His critics concede ."at he was a terse and vigorous writer, who did much to make Oregon known; that his ideas were broad and for the nation's best interests. He believed profit would repay enter- prise, and made the religious feature prominent. He was both an enthusiast and zealot, and-to his misfortune-was not a clear-sighted business man.
In 1827 he incorporated a society and issued a circular "To all persons who wish to migrate to Oregon territory," wherein he gave a general description of the country and necessary conditions for becoming an emigrant. This emigration was to take place in 1832; the scheme was comprehensive: to secure people of excellent character, to fill all conditions of society, to be energized and vitalized by the mild and vital principles of the American republic and sacred ordinances of the Christian religion.
It was a great scheme, but he claimed that success was defeated by the inter- ested fur companies, who desired only the life of the wilderness and existing savage conditions. Kelly planned a vir- gin state that was to achieve perfection. When this enterprise failed he deter- mined to make a journey to the promised land to judge for himself and lay founda- tion for further effort.
He had sent his publications far and wide, especially to government leaders and persons of prominence. He had memorialized congress for support to aid the undertaking, but the terms of joint occupancy by Great Britain and the United States were such that he only re- ceived assurance that any settlement he should make would be protected. In '29 he asked for a grant of 25 miles square in the Columbia valley, to be colonized: but as we had no definite title, no suchi grant could be made.
. Believing that the Hudson's Bay Com- pany had opposed his plans, he violent- ly assailed them through the press and urged congress to assert American rights. From 1830 he spent every win- ter in Washington, urging action and trying to influence legislation. In the spring of 1833 he determined to see Or- egon for himself. Fearing that if he went overland his notoriety would cause trouble from those he had so bitterly reproached, he secured a passport through Mexico. shipped his stuff to New Orleans, where he went with a small party, who all forsook him there: thence by sea to Vera Cruz, thinking to take his goods through Mexico, thus to Oregon. The goods were seized for customs dues and confiscated. causing much loss. He spent several months in Mexico, trying to interest teachers there in his improved methods. He must have gone from Mexico to Cali- fornia by sea, as he was there early in 1834, and tried to get contracts for sur- veying from Governor Figuera. He made some surveys for individuals and made some maps of that region: all of which shows that the Yankee school- master kept things moving and was neither lagged in work nor in enterprise.
In the summer of 1834 Kelly met in California Ewing Young, who became a leading character in early times in Or-
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rxon. Young had been a cabinet-maker n Tennessee ; then was a trader at Santa ! r. and finally went to California. En- :hused by Kelly's account as to Oregon, be and others, making ten in all. started Worth. Young had a herd of horses to Drive, as commencement of a stock ranch In Oregon. They were joined by some disreputable ones who did not go through, as they turned off with a lot of animals they had picked up on the way, without taking a receipted 'bill of sale. Governor Figuera, learning that stolen stock had been driven .north by this company, sent word by vessel to Gov-> ernor McLoughlin ti. 't Young and Kel- ly were the thieves. Kelly was ill with mountain fever as they went through Southern Oregon, but was taken care of by a party of trappers, who in time land- ed him at Vancouver.
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