The Stick Samish

[Alan H. Hartley]

> And although we haven't _proven_ that the regional English term "the
> sticks" comes from the Chinook Jargon usage(s) of "stick", it _does_
> seem pretty likely given the penetration of Jargonisms into English as a
> whole.  (In fact, I'm not sure that "the sticks" is only regional
> English, and not general English......Alan?)

According to the OED, "the sticks" is a surprisingly recent expression.
Here's the definition with the 3 earliest cites:

THE STICKS: a remote, thinly populated, rural area; the backwoods;
hence, in extended (freq. depreciatory) use, any area that is off the
beaten track or thought to be provincial or unsophisticated; esp. in
phr. in the sticks. orig. U.S.
   1905 N. Davis Northerner 78 Billy is a cane-brake nigger; he'll take
to the sticks like a duck to water when he's scared.  1914 R. Lardner in
Sat. Even. Post 7 Mar. 8/1, I will have to slip you back to the sticks
[i.e. the minor baseball leagues].  1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.)
22 Oct. 11/3 Judge Landis..has not yet consigned Babe Ruth to oblivion
for+playing in the sticks for exhibition money.

And the other entry of interest:

STICK INDIAN: Canad. colloq., a member of the North American Indian
peoples inhabiting the forests of British Columbia and the Yukon
[properly a loan transl. of Chinook Jargon stick siwash forest Indian, a
term used by the Coast Indians for those of the interior in this area.]
   [1869 L. Smith Let. 30 Oct. in Rep. Indian Affairs 1969 (U.S.) (1870)
567 Twice a year most of the Indians make a trip up the Stikine River to
Talyan, at which place the Stick tribe reside.]  1885 F. Schwatka Rep.
Mil. Reconn. Alaska 1883 76 The so-called ‘Stick’ Indians of the
interior are seen in the villages near the trading stores.  1887 G. M.
Dawson Notes on Indian Tribes of Yukon 14 They are classed with the
‘Stick Indians’, by the coast tribes.  1963 R. Symons Many Trails vii.
72 Snowshoes are known only as a strange accoutrement of the ‘Stick
Indians’.

And my small contribution:

1889 G. DAWSON Indian Tribes Yukon in Ann. Rep. Geol. Survey Canada
1887-1888 n.s. 3 (B), Pt. 1, 192B
The interior Indians are collectively known on the coast as "Stick
Indians"..this name is also applied to the Tagish
note: to replace OED quot. 1887 which is misquoted

Alan