Meacham's CJ in Oregon 1870

[Forrest Pass]

> > > p. 25 Kin-ni-ki-nick
> > > tobacco
> >
> > What _is_ the etymology of kinnikinick, anyway?  It's used in old Jargon
> > and still in BC slang English in the Interior; but what language is it
> > from and what does it really mean?
>
> Of course you know it is now the common name of a plant Arctostaphylos uva
> ursi, which was supposedly smoked.  Its a very common plant here in the
> Willamette Valley, especially is well drained soils where there is a good sun

The OED defines Kinnikinnic (it gives 9 alternate spellings and notes that
there are many more) as "a mixture used by North American Indians as a
substitute for tobacco, or for mixing with it; the commonest ingredients
are dried sumach leaves and the inner bark of dogwood or willow" or "any
of the plants used for this: silky cornel, red-osier, dogwood, and
especially bear berry." The word is of Algonquin origin and translates
literally as "a mixture".  The first record of its use by Europeans in in
J. Smith's "Accounts of Remarkable Occurences", 1799.

Forrest Pass