"Carrie M. Willard among the Tlingits"

[coyotez]

I remember from my youth that "sticks" meant "out in the country," as in away
from the city or town. Perhaps stick country refers to people living away from
the main twon or village location. This wouldn't necessarily mean the forest,
especially in the Willamette Valley which was not all forest.
David Lewis


>Page 78:  "We were very tired that evening...but just before dark two of
>the head men came, begging us to have another meeting because they were
>going to the Stick country and it would be long before they could come
>again."
>
>Page 156:  "When [my baby boy] coos and laughs, they fairly scream with
>joy, while Kotzie [young Carrie--her little daughter] stands at a window
>gesticulating and talking Tlingit at a rapid rate.  She never speaks a
>syllable of English to an Indian."
>
>Page 210:  [glossary]  "Sticks -- Native group of interior Alaska with whom
>the Chilkats annually traded."
>
>[Dave's note:  I take Sticks to be a use of the Jargon word for 'forest'.
>It's consistently used in Willard's letters in reference to non-Tlingit
>people who apparently lived to the north & inland, that is, in Athabaskan
>country.  Therefore, I see a parallel with the still widely used
>term 'Stick Indians'.]

David Lewis
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Department Of Anthropology
University of Oregon