History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 9
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 9
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 9

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The girl, too, had gone to sleep, but not soundly like the spirits. When

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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 horor she leaped up and ran to the edge of the island, where, after hunting a long time, she found a boat, in which she crossed to the Indian village. Having pre- sented herself 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, de- siring 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 beautiful 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 conse- quence 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 communication with 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, we 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 a canyon three thousand feet in depth. While generally 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 Indians affirm that their grandfathers have told them that 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 thirty feet at that point. This is now overcome by government locks. Among other evidences of some such actual occurrence 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 fifty to seventy-five feet dur- ing the summer flood, and which, as shown by government engineers, carries nearly as much water as the Mississippi at New Orleans, is here continually eating

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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 inspec- tion 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 effect. 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. He 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 conven- ience 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, and besought Sahale that she might bestow the fire on them. Sahale, having been greatly pleased by the faithfulness and benevolence of Loowit, finally granted her request. The lot of the Indians was wonderfully improved by the acquisition of fire. They now began to make better lodges and clothes, and had a variety of food and implements, and, in short, were marvel- ously benefited by the bounteous gift.

But Sahale, in order to show his appreciation of the care with which Loowit had guarded the sacred fire, 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 accordingly 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

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ravaged, all the beautiful things which they had made were marred, and misery and wretchedness 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 monuments the great snow peaks ; over Loowit what we now call Mount St. Helens, over Wiyeast the modern Mount Hood, and above Klickitat the stupen- dous dome of what we now call Mount Adams.

STUDENTS OF INDIAN MYTHS

And now it is a matter of much interest to learn something of the chief original sources and the most reliable investigation 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 the Yakima 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 Franchère, 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 Ecan- num. Franchère 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 Franchère's narrative. Of valuable books of the same period of Franchère, are Ross Cox's "Adventures on the Columbia River," and Alexander Ross' "Adventures on the Columbia River" and "The Fur Traders of the Far West," all of which contain valuable references to the customs and supersti- tious 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, Samahtamawhoolah. 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 good spirit, one of whose names is Skyappa, and a bad spirit, one of whose names was Chacha. The chief deity of those Indians seems to have been the great mother of life, 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.

Captain Charles Wilkes, the American explorer of the early forties, 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 Cle Elum. One of the most important

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of the early histories of Oregon is Dunn's, the materials for which were gath- ered in the decade of the forties. With other valuable matter it contains ac- counts 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 early 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" com- memorates a journey from Puget Sound across the mountains and through the Yakima and Klickitat countries in 1853. It contains several 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, though the peculiar rich imagination and picturesque language of Winthrop are in evidence through- out 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, occurred the visit and investigations of James G. Swan, whose book, "The Northwest Coast," was published in 1857. In this is found the creation 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 observa- tion of General George Gibbs of the similarity of Klickitat myths to those in Longfellow'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 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 writer that the Indians at the Cascades had a spring festival with the first run of salmon. They would boil 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 in the end it had been picked clean but with not a bone broken. Mr. Bishop thought that this was a survival 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 Northeast 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 reference given, but these mainly deal with Mexican, Central American, and

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Californian 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 Tacullies 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 tribes, 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 professional students of the subject. These men took up the matter in a more scientific and methodical way than the travelers 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 ob- servers. They were all connected with the Smithsonian Institution, and their work was mainly under the Government.

The Bibliography as given by Dr. Boas is as follows :

Edward Sapir, Wishram Txts (publications of the American Ethnological Society, Vol. II).

Leo J. Frachtenberg, Coos Texts (Columbia University contributions to Anthropology, Vol. I.)

Leo J. Frachtenberg, Lower Umpqua Texts (ibid. Vol. IV).

James Teit, Traditions of the Thompson Indians (Memoirs of the American 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 Ex- pedition Publications, Vol. VIII).

James Teit, the Shushwap (ibid. Vol. II).

Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord Pacifischen Küste Amerikas.

Franz Boas, Mythology of the Indians of Washington and Oregon. (Globus, Vol. LXIII, pp. 154-157, 172-175, 190-193.)

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, Ethnol- ogy, etc., Vol. XXIII, pp. 161-172).

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

_ Franz Boas, Chinook Texts (Bureau of Ethnology, Government Printing Office, 1894).

Franz Boas, Cathlamet Texts (ibid.).

James Teit, Traditions of the Lilloost Indians (Journal of American Folk Lore, Vol. 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.

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The other volumes of the Journal of American Folk Lore from 1888 to 1913 contain valuable matter. In Professor Gatchett's book are found some of the finest fire myths and fish myths of the Northwest.

Doctor Boas found a treasury of information in an old Indian named Charlie Cultee at Bay Center in Willapa Harbor, Washington, and from that source derived the material for the most scientific and uncolored study of Indian lore yet given to the public. Some of this appears in the Chinook Texts of Doctor Boas. In this is the story, by Charlie Cultee, of the wreck on Clatsop beach. This is found also in H. S. Lyman's History of Oregon.

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 interesting matter, much of which was preserved by H. S. Lyman in his history of Oregon, and in articles in the Oregonian, Historical Quarterly, 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 appear 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. Myron Eells, who lived for many years on Hood's Canal. Years ago the author heard from him legends of the Indians which he derived directly from the natives, such as the Thunder Bird, the Flood around Mount Tacoma (which he thought colored by the story of Noah in the Bible), and others. In the book by Mr. Eells 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 Indian myths as in almost everything that had to do with men and nature. The legend of the "Bridge of the Gods," 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 geolo- gist in 1853. In his report on the Pacific Railroad in House of Representatives Documents of 1853-54, he gives the first published version, so far as we can dis- cover, of the "Bridge of the Gods." He tells the story thus: "The Indians tell a characteristic 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 Mount St. Helens was victor ; since when Mount Hood has been afraid,

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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 Yakima 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 Nehalem, 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 contribution 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 Magazine 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 breaking down the bridge. The story of the bridge became the most noted of all native myths, being related to practically every traveler 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 adapters and transcribers, rather than original students, but some among them are entitled to the place of genuine investigators. Among these a foremost place must be ac- corded 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 ac- cumulated the largest collection of matter both published and unpublished of any one 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 appear 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 dis- coverer 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 Legend of Snake River Valley"; "A Wappato 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, Washington. As already stated, he was for a number of years the physician for the Yakima Reservation at Fort Simcoe and has many friends throughout the Yakima coun- try. 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 pub- lished writings were in the "West Shore", of Portland, in 1887. His most mature contribution, 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 Company, of Portland, in 1889. This is an admirable

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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 Doctor Kuykendall in that work: "Wishpoosh, the Beaver God, and the Origin of the Tribes"; "Speelyi Fights Enumtla"; "Spellyi 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 Firemen 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 author of a unique and picturesque book devoted exclusively to Indian myths, is W. W. Phillips of Seattle, well known by his non-de-plume of "El 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 such of his matter by comparing with Judge Swan, and by the stories acquired by Dr. 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."

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 9

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1134

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134