"Be Prepared"

[Jeffrey Kopp]

Klahowya, six!

I have another inquiry from the Web site, this from a Scout leader, who asks how best to say "West," and wonders where the heck "skyloo" came from.

Regards,

Jeff

I was hoping that you could help me to validate the definition of a few
words.  I am a Boy Scout, and I am a youth leader in an organization
known as the Order of the Arrow.  We have a lot of Native American
tradition built into our program, including our organization names.  The
OA is broken down into lodges, and I am the Lodge Chief for Wauna
La-Mon'tay Lodge.  Our lodge originally started as Hyas Chuck Kah Sun
Klatawa.  We have always believed this to mean "Mighty River Flowing to
the West."  We then shortened the name to Skyloo, which we believe to
mean "Land of the Mountain Sun."  However, a man who was a youth leader
back at the time of this change just emailed me today saying that this
definition is made up.  Later, we became Wauna La-Mon'tay, meaning "The
Great Columbia River and Mountains."
 
I used your dictionary quite a bit to try and validate these
definitions.  As far as I can tell, Hyas Chuck Kah Sun Klatawa is pretty
close (Hyas=Great, Chuck=River, Kah=Where, Klatawa=go).  I couldn't find
a Chinook word for "West." but maybe Sun means west somehow??
 
Wauna La-Mon'tay also is a bit confusing.  La-Mon-ti = Mountain.  But
"river" is Chuck.  I couldn't find any "Wauna."
 
My biggest confusion lies in Skyloo.  The only thing I can find on the
internet about anything called "Skyloo" is a type of outhouse.  Maybe
someone thought it would be amusing to name our lodge after an outhouse.
I dont know.
 
If you can help me out, I would really appreciate it.  If not, maybe you
know someone who could?
 
Thank you,
Lodge Chief, Wauna La-Mon'Tay Lodge #442