Isaac I. Stevens' papers

[Mike Cleven]

Dave Robertson wrote:
>
> Klahowya,
>
> Looks like several NW newspapers ran their own or A.P. wire stories about the auction.  The papers haven't sold yet, and one or more parties are attempting to obtain funds to purchase the lot for a public institution.
>
> Does any of you know offhand whether these same materials have been worked up into published form yet?  They sound like they could contains bits and pieces of useful Chinook Jargon.  If so, perhaps one use for that information would be in evaluating how well Governor Stevens was communicating with Natives in his treaty negotiations.
>
> Thanks to some of you for sending me copies of relevant news articles.  I'd like to forward them to you all, but several of them expressly forbid further dissemination!

I'm not a citizen of the State of Washington so it's not my place to
write him directly, but I aver that the Governor of Washington seems to
like a good person to throw the idea to; Lauk strikes me as the kind of
person sympathetic to history, heritage et al, particularly  to that
pertaining to the first holder of his own office of Governor (albeit in
territorial form).  Also, I'd rather think that the history departments
of library special collections at U.W. or Wash. State or wherever (might
as well lobby the uni in Spokane, Dave; then they'll be around for your
to study them....).  In BC, of course, we have (I think...) Governor
Douglas' papers, if not in their completion, as well as his wife's
diaries IIRC, which surely contain Jargon references and borrowings.  I
do know that our current Lieutenant-Governor (the viceroy) would be
interested in these papers if they were the Canadian equivalent; perhaps
if we got _her_ to buy them we could ransom them back to the US ;-)

The interesting bit about these papers is that may (must) contain
several examples of Chinook Jargon, but may also give us an indication
of the Governor's own facility with the Jargon, and his own style.  IIRC
he didn't speak it much at the time of the Stevens Treaties negotiations
with Sealth but he must have acquired some in his years of governance.
Even Seymour and Trutch in BC, despite their arch-racism towards
natives, were conversant in the Jargon, but that's in Kingchauch country
where, proportionately, a lot more non-natives seem to have spoken it
than on the American side of the Line, to each other as much as to
natives as well.  To get a glimpse of Gov. Stevens' understanding and
use of the Jargon would be a unique window on the past, to be sure.....

MC