Yachats, 1875: Indians to move to Siletz or Salmon River, or assimilate? (J.P. Harrington's notes quoted in Youst book)

[zenk at USWESTMAIL.NET]

About the Alsea man's Jargon:

Just talking off the top of my head here, but another possibility is that the Jargon got somewhat garbled, somewhere in the process of being reported at 3rd or 4th or nth hand.

The version in which the guy says he would eat his land  evidently had some currency.  At least, I do remember one or another of Harrington's informants reporting it that way:  not Lottie Evanoff; perhaps Frank Drew or Spencer Scott (I know I have the anecdote in my notes somewhere, but would have to locate it).  The idea being conveyed, as I remember, is that this old Alsea (who is identified in this version) felt THAT connected to his land.  He definitely did not want to leave it.

When I have the opportunity I'll look for this item.  "My" version doesn't have the Jargon, nor even the information that the man was talking Jargon--only the "substance" (so to speak) of what he said.  Of course, it wouldn't be surprising that the Indians would be using Jargon in community meetings at Yachats, where there were speakers of several different tribal languages (if not the dozen or so at Grand Ronde).  Henry


On Sat, 18 November 2000, Dave Robertson wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
> On page 95 of the Youst biography of Annie Miner Peterson, there is this
> passage based on the notes of the venerable J.P. Harrington:
>
> "The [Coos, Lower Umpqua, some of the Lower Coquille, and other] Indians
> within the Alsea Subagency were given a choice:  they could move to what
> remained of the reservation at either Siletz or the Salmon River, or they
> could move out into the white culture and become assimilated...
>
> "Some of the Alsea came down from Waldport to take part in the
> conference...Last of all to speak was an old Alsea Indian whose name has
> been forgotten.  He said in the Chinook Jargon, 'Nika mam'ook ill'ahee.
> Nika muck'a muck nika.'"  Lottie Evanoff, who heard the story from her
> father, Daloose, commented that it sounded as if he said (in translation),
> 'I'm going to eat my land.'  But what he really meant, she explained, was
> that he would put a fish dam at his place and eat salmon, not imposing on
> the whites.  In the end the Alsea moved a few at a time from Waldport to
> Siletz over the next three years."


Signup for your free USWEST.mail Email account http://www.uswestmail.net