Why the southern boundary of Chinuk Wawa use?

[Robert Kentta]

Hi Dave. When the Rogue River Treaty was signed at Table Rock in Sept. 1853,
Joel Palmer, James Nesmith, Joseph Lane and others said they didn't know how
well the terms of the treaty were related to the Takelma, Shasta and
Dakubetede (Applegate River people, because they "had an imperfect
knowledge" of Chinook Jargon (the main means of communication at those
talks). By 1855, Chinook Wawa was being used extensively during the Rogue
River wars on [at least] the upper Klamath River by Shasta peoples (probably
even more so on the Oregon side of the Siskiyous).

I don't know that the Karuk, Hupa, Yurok, Wiyot, Klamath Lake, Modoc, Pit
River people's used it much at all, but it's possible. There were Klickitat
people Wyaneshut (Winishut?) and others who traded guns and ammo to our
Shasta, Takelma, Umpqua, Applegate River Athapascan, Galice Creek people in
Southern Oregon during the war, and Tyee John (Shasta) had a son married up
to the Dalles. That made close ties to people using Chinook Wawa frequently,
though it's a strange occurance that a headman's son would leave his country
and go to his wife's place (signs of a unique situation forged alliance, for
better collaborative and coordinated actions. - as was suspected at the
time..?????).

I don't think the tribes surrounding the Shastas on the California side had
that contact with the Klickitats, nor did they have quite as intense mining
activity going on in their neighborhood as the Shastas around Yreka, Scott
Bar, etc. (i.e. less contact/conflict with whites, and hence, need for means
of communication). At the end of the Rogue River Wars, the majority of the
Rogue Valley Tribes and many of the upper Klamath River Shastas were removed
here to the Siletz Reservation, some permanently settled at the Grand Ronde
Agency. Relatively few native people remained in Jackson, Josephine, Curry,
Douglas counties (southern Oregon), to carry on communication with their
neighbors to the south. There was a certain amount of traffic between Siletz
and Yreka Shastas, as well as Siletz and Smith River Tolowas starting again
in the late 1850's (mostly people leaving Siletz for periods of time -
"running away from the reservation"). Then again later, intermarriage
between Siletz people with Karuk, Hupa, Yurok, Tolowa, Shasta people became
again more frequent as transportation got better, people moved around to
logging camps, Shaker Church meetings, etc.

I think the Klickitat connection and the proximity to ground zero for mining
activity had a lot to do with the spread and actual need for Chinook Jargon.
The Shastas are a little unique in NW Cal too, for the fact that a sizable
portion of their territory lay on the north side of the Siskiyou summit
(Bear Creek, Upper Applegate, Rogue Valley) The Karuk, Hupa and Yurok do not
have that geographic connection to "Oregon". The Tolowa are an extension of
the SW Oregon Athapascans, not really like their Hupa, Matole, Sinkyone
relatives - either linguistically or culturally - much closer to their
Chetco, Lower Rogue cousins. I mentioned their connections to Siletz (some
having been moved there originally and others moving back and forth over the
years between those 2 communities), it's interesting to me that the Smith
River people recently were still debating about whether to take certain
words out of their "Tolowa" dictionary, because they were found to be - not
Athapascan, but Chinook Jargon. Mowitch is one of several words that I heard
was removed.

Well, I've probably rambled on way too long already.

Robert Kentta
Cultural Resources Director, Siletz





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Robertson" <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
To: <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 12:49 AM
Subject: Why the southern boundary of Chinuk Wawa use?


> To the best of my knowledge, Chinuk Wawa wasn't much used South of the
> Oregon-California border.
>
> Why?
>
> Were intertribal relations of a different character from those farther
> North?
>
> Was the economic situation different?
>
> Was there a different language of intercultural contact, e.g. was Chileno
> (pidgin Spanish) widespread in northern California?
>
> Were Indian-newcomer relations different enough from those in Oregon,
> Washington & BC to keep people from wanting an interethnic language?  Was
> the anti-Indian violence or genocide that erupted very early in
> California's history as a US state a factor, for example?
>
> Your thoughts are solicited.
>
> --Dave R
>
> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately
to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!