Whiskey jack, the bird, and high muck

[Jeffrey Kopp]

On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 09:14:49 +1000, Colin Bruce <cbruce at SMARTLINE.COM.AU> wrote:

>Does your aunt's recognition of chinook terms mean that chinook had
>migrated to Aberdeen or that Lallans had migrated to Chinook Illahie?

Well, that's kind of out of my area of expertise, as I am still struggling to learn pre-contact history. (Well, I'm still struggling to really learn our pioneer history, too.)

However, the persistence of the Jargon in the vernacular in Aberdeen in the 1930s is probably explained by its relative isolation and its population of lumberjacks, millworkers, and fishermen, and of course there was still a visible Native community there then.  Mom says in those days it seemed more connected internationally (it was a seaport and merchant sailor's town) than to the country eastward.

People younger than I am (and I'm not yet quite middle-aged) forget how far removed Portland was from the rest of the country (I still call it "the edge of the planet") until direct-dial long-distance and nonstop jet service to the east came here in the 1960s.  While it was a mercantile/trading center with some significant manufacturing, its contact with the continent was a month-to-month, week-to-week thing, instead of the day-to-day, minute-to-minute connection we have now.  (Also, Oregon's population has grown, largely by intracontinental migration, from 2 to 4 million since 1965.)

I haven't visited Aberdeen, but my relatives do annually, and find it appears little unchanged by the last sixty years.

Regards,

Jeff