Has anyone...

[Leanne Riding]

I haven't read "The Seal Wife", but I can contribute a little to the
question about Chinook Jargon in Alaska. For the author to say that a
traveller might expect Chinook Jargon to be prevalent in Alaska would
not be far off the mark, especially in southern Alaska. It was in fact
very common to encounter people along the Alaskan coast who could speak
it from the late 1800s and onward. The Jargon travelled north during the
later years of the sea otter trade, the Klondike Gold rush, with the
cannery trade, and the with movements of seasonal labourers up and down
the Pacific coast. By the late 1800s it was commonly used, although the
repertoire of words was small, and probably a lot of their meaning had
shifted. Even today words like cheechako are well understood in the
north, although I would expect most people who use it have only a vague
idea where the word came from.

Does that help?

- Leanne