Oral history cites on CJ

[Dave Robertson]

>From a database I briefly searched...enjoy!  --  Dave R



6. Document of Blackwood, Harriot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton, Lady Dufferin, 
1843(?)-1936 01-Aug-1876 in British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries 
[Document Details] [Collection Details] 

The house was very nice, the floors and part of the walls covered with a 
kind of native matting. After making the tour of the village we returned 
to the platform. The people collected round, and sang "God save the 
Queen," and some English songs, and then a song about Metlacatlah, 
composed by Mr. Duncan, and set to the air of "Home, Sweet Home"; also 
some English and Tschimchyau hymns. An Indian then read an address in 
English, and the chiefs signed it in our presence. D. replied, Mr. Duncan 
taking down his speech, and translating it afterwards. He speaks their 
language perfectly, while many Englishmen only learn a jargon called 
Chinook, which is a sort of "pigeon English," intended for trading 
purposes, and quite unfit to explain the mysteries of a new religion. 

27. Document of Below is the text of interview Chuck Williams in 
collection Columbia River Dissenters Series at Center for Columbia River 
History. Oral History Archive ..."Williams, Chuck 22-Jan-1999 in Columbia 
River Dissenters Series [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

They could get Saiwash [sp?] yelled at them, which was kind of the 
equivalent of nigger. It was the Chinook jargon word for Indian. It became 
a slur towards Indians to whites. Fortunately, it seems to have 
disappeared from - unlike the N-word - it seemed to have disappeared from 
the vocabulary here in the Northwest. They would have rocks thrown at them 
and such, but they were educated and half white, so they weren’t - they 
didn’t really fit in with the Indian community, too. In fact, when Aunt - 
Widacreek [sp?], Aunt Virginia - the woman photographed by Curtis - would 
come down to visit my grandma, her niece, they would kind of be 
embarrassed, because she was what they used to refer to as a blanket 
Indian. 

28. Document of Below is the text of interview Chuck Williams in 
collection Columbia River Dissenters Series at Center for Columbia River 
History. Oral History Archive ..."Williams, Chuck 22-Jan-1999 in Columbia 
River Dissenters Series [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

CH: Arthur Clyde. CW: He goes by Clyde - went by Clyde. He past away a few 
years ago. My mom’s still alive. CH: And so, he was - his father was 
white... CW: Yeah. CH: And his mother was... CW: Was full-blooded. CH: 
Full-blooded Indian. CW: Yeah. His father’s Charles Otis Williams, the 
Welsh man. That’s who I’m named after. CH: Oh I see, I see. CW: But Chuck -
 but he went by Charlie. Chuck is a Chinook word for river. So that’s why 
I’ve always gone by Chuck. A lot of the rivers like the Klickitat and 
White Salmon, that are wild - they’re National Wild and Scenic rivers, I 
was the impetus behind. 

38. Document of Below is the text of interview Chuck Williams in 
collection Columbia River Dissenters Series at Center for Columbia River 
History. Oral History Archive ..."Williams, Chuck 22-Jan-1999 in Columbia 
River Dissenters Series [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

The main downside of this. And it’s right in a flyway with a huge raptor 
population. So they figured if they poisoned all the raptors’ food then 
the raptors wouldn’t come around. But Dennis and Bonnie White are the ones 
to talk to about that. I’ve got my hands full with the tributaries. Being 
Indian rivers have always been my main priority. In fact my name Chuck is 
Chinook jargon for river. My nickname in Indian Country is wild and scenic 
Chuck because of all the rivers that I’ve helped save around the 
Northwest. CH: Anything else that you’re currently working on? CW: That’s 
the main thing. Unfortunately, the main role left for me now is to go 
around and point out the queens naked. 

67. Document of Leighton, Caroline C., 1838- 10-May-1866 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

We walked out to Lake Union, and found an Indian and his wife living in a 
tree. The most primitive of the Indians, the old gray ones, who look the 
most interesting, do not commonly speak the Chinook at all, or have any 
intercourse with the whites. On the way there, we found the peculiar rose 
that grows only on the borders of the fir-forest, the wild white 
honeysuckle, and the glossy kinni-kinnick — the Indian tobacco. We saw a 
nest built on the edge of the lake, rising and falling with the water, but 
kept in place by the stalks of shrubs about it. A great brown bird, with 
spotted breast, rose from it. 

70. Document of FitzGerald, Emily McCorkle, 1850-1912 27-Dec-1874 in North 
American Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

I will try to get you hats next summer. These Indians don't talk anything, 
Mamma; they grunt. I believe their language is called Chinook and Siwash. 
It is just striking twelve and I am going to bed. If the boat doesn't 
leave early, I will add some to this in the morning, but, as it may, I 
will say good night. With lots of love to all, Your loving daughter, Emily 
FitzGerald I forgot to say the blue ribbons are just what I want. Bess is 
playing around with her new things. She insists upon having her new brush 
and will brush the dog, kittie, and the floor. I wish I could get her a 
little dust pan and brush like we used to have but guess I will have to 
wait until we get East. 

75. Document of Woodman, Abby Johnson, 1828- 05-Apr-1888 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

April 19. The day was dark and rainy, and we spent it mostly in our room. 
I made one excursion to a bookstore and purchased Lieut. 
Schwatka's "Alaska," and a small guide-book to the Chinook language. This 
last we studied in the dim light of the day, and were much amused as well 
as complimented by finding that the Indians throughout the entire 
Northwest give the name of "Boston" to all white inhabitants of the United 
States, as well as to the whole country itself. In fact, "Boston" has more 
significance to these native Alaskans than any other word in their or the 
English language. To them it stands for intelligence, incomprehensible 
power, and destiny. 

76. Document of Leighton, Caroline C., 1838- 02-Jul-1865 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

The house is not ready for us. We are obliged at present, for want of a 
chimney, to stop with our nearest neighbor. But we pay it frequent visits. 
Yesterday, as we sat there, we received a call from two Indians, in 
extreme undress. They walked in with perfect freedom, and sat down on the 
floor. We shall endeavor to procure from Victoria a dictionary of the 
Haidah, Chinook and other Indian languages, by the aid of which we shall 
be able to receive such visitors in a more satisfactory manner. At 
present, we can only smile very much at them. Fortunately, on this 
occasion, our carpenter was present, who told us that the man was 
called "Hunter," which served as an introduction. 

77. Document of Leighton, Caroline C., 1838- 20-Sep-1865 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

We take great satisfaction in the recollection of this one day of pure 
Indian life. The next day we decided to try a canoe. We should not have 
ventured to go alone with the Indians, not understanding their talk; but 
another passenger was to go with us, who represented that he had learned 
the only word it would be necessary to use. He explained to us, after we 
started, that the word was "hyac," which meant "hurry up;" the only danger 
being that we should not reach Port Townsend before dark, as they were apt 
to proceed in so leisurely a way when left to themselves. After a while, 
the bronze paddlers — two siwashes (men) and two klootchmen (women) — 
began to show some abatement of zeal in their work, and our fellow-
passengers pronounced the talismanic word, with some emphasis; whereat 
they laughed him to scorn, and made some sarcastic remarks, half Chinook 
and half English, from which we gathered that they advised him, if he 
wanted to reach Port Townsend before dark, to tell the sun to stop, and 
not tell them to hurry up. 

78. Document of Leighton, Caroline C., 1838- 04-Apr-1869 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, This afternoon we rode past the grave-
yard of the Indians on the beach. It is a picturesque spot, as most of 
their burial-places are. They like to select them where land and water 
meet. A very old woman, wrapped in a green blanket, was digging clams with 
her paddle in the sand. She was one of those stiff old Indians, whom we 
occasionally see, who do not speak the Chinook at all, and take no notice 
whatever of the whites. I never feel as if they even see me when I am with 
them. They seem always in a deep dream. Her youth must have been long 
before any white people came to the country. 

82. Document of Brown, Tabitha, 1780-1858 Aug-1854 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

We were soon there, and ate plentifully of fresh venison. Within 8 or 10 
feet of where my tent was set fresh tracks of two Indians were plain to be 
seen, but I did not know they were there. They killed and robbed a Mr. 
Newton but a short distance off, but would not kill his wife because she 
was a (Clushman?)2 The word, "Clushman" appears here in parentheses with a 
question mark after it. Whether the question mark appeared in Tabitha 
Brown's original or was added by the transcriber, there is no way to know. 
The word was spelled several ways, more often "Kloochman," meaning "woman" 
in Chinook Jargon, the inter-tribal trade language of the Pacific 
Northwest Indians. 

83. Document of Brown, Tabitha, 1780-1858 Aug-1854 in North American 
Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

" Yes — Niker hias scocum Tillscum, Close Tumtum. me very brave woman, 
good heart. Cumtux Chemuke Wawwaw? Understand Indian talk?5 This was her 
attempt to render a message in the Chinook Jargon, the short-hand inter-
tribal trade language of the Pacific Northwest tribes from Oregon to 
Alaska. It became a constant of the early white man's slang in in every 
day talk, so much so that J. K. Gill, the Portland bookstore, for many 
years published a Gill's Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon. The last 
edition bought by this author at the Gill store a number of years ago was 
the eighteenth, published in 1960, and compiled by John Gill. A helpful 
reference on this subject is Edward Harper Thomas, Chinook: A History and 
Dictionary (Portland, 1970). Tabitha Brown 

84. Document of Duniway, Abigail Jane Scott, 1834-1915 01-Jul-1852 in 
North American Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

"Mitchell (The driver alluded to) after having been told that he must do 
better or leave the train, took ‘french’ leave of us and we have not seen 
or heard of him since. He is a (‘Cultis, Tilaqum’), which being 
interpreted a (trifling fellow)." 1853 Revision. The use of the Chinook 
jargon is interesting."One day our ‘Salon Wagon’, as we called the wagon 
that served as a ‘parlor’, overturned, my sister Fanny (Mrs. Mary Cook) as 
soon as she could extricate herself, poked her head out of the hooded 
wagon and cried, ‘Oh Lord, come here quick!’ My uncle came running up and 
said, ‘Jenny, hadn't you better call on some of the company? 

85. Document of Hutchinson, Elizabeth M. B., 1829-1866 24-Jun-1854 in 
North American Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

has grown more since she left home than she had for several years before. 
She looks considerably like a woman and every hair on her head is full of 
ambition. She begins to talk of Silks, Spanish side Saddles young Lawyers 
etc. But But Giee's giees as the red man says are ad Swampus non comatum 
that is men of the first standing.3 This conglomeration of words is 
probably a localized form or distortion of the Chinook jargon, trade 
language of the Pacific Northwest Indians. None of the Chinook 
authorities, however, list any of them. I must tell you something about 
the Mrs of Oregon4 Due to the shortage of women, many were married as 
young teenagers, and are sometimes referred to as "child brides. 

86. Document of Shipley, Celinda Elvira Hines, 1826-1905 01-Aug-1853 in 
North American Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

In the morning a great many indians came to camp with fish which they 
wished to exchange for clothing. We bought a number. The Salmon 
[unreadable] here are [unreadable] indians (the Diggers) cannot understand 
the Eng. language. They understand & use the words swap & no swap, which 
words they make use of in trading. We occasionally meet one with whom 
Uncle G & his family can converse in the Chinook dialect & jargon used by 
the indians of western Oregon These indians are dressed in any old 
clothing they can [unreadable] the emigrants Some [unreadable] others are 
fully clad. They seem most anxious to get shirts & socks. 

87. Document of Shipley, Celinda Elvira Hines, 1826-1905 01-Aug-1853 in 
North American Women's Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

This is quoted in full in our epilogue to the Hines diary. But I know that 
our loss is his gain that he is yet [unreadable] & he loves [unreadable] 
watch over me & continue to guide me An indian chief being with us with 
whom uncle G could talk in the Chinook dialect — took several of his men 
who were expert swimmers & divers & made every exertion to get the body 
but were unsuccessful. With hearts overflowing with sorrow we were under 
the necessity of pursuing our journey immediately as there was no grass 
for the cattle where we were. Messrs Marsh & Walter being with 
[unreadable] services were engaged [unreadable] Marsh drove our team & 
went about a mile camped on a river It seems that Pa had a presentment 
that something was to happen as he had often spoken of his dread of 
crossing at this crossing Wolves howled Took water with us & went about 15 
miles to Malheur river & camped. road pretty good mostly through sage Our 
camp was in a very pretty place but all was sadness to me Very pleasant 
Remained in camp The men [unreadable] nearly all [unreadable] The new road 
[unreadable] the Willamette valley above Oregon city saving 150 miles 
distance leaves the old trail near this place. 

122. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

They were a robust lot, of tall and well-shaped figures, and were called 
in the Chinook tongue "salt chuck," which means fish-eaters, or eaters of 
food from the salt water. Many of the young men and women were handsome in 
feature below the forehead, having fine eyes, aquiline noses and good 
mouths, but, in conformity with a long-standing custom, all had flat 
heads, which gave them a distorted and hideous appearance, particularly 
some of the women, who went to the extreme of fashion and flattened the 
head to the rear in a sharp horizontal ridge by confining it between two 
boards, one running back from the forehead at an angle of about forty 
degrees, and the other up perpendicularly from the back of the neck. 

123. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

Next morning they all assembled, and we talked in the Chinook language all 
day long, until at last they gave in, consenting, probably, as much 
because they could not help themselves, as for any other reason. It was 
agreed that on the following day at 12 o'clock, when the tide was going 
out, I should take my men and place the canoes in the bay, and let them 
float out on the tide across the ocean to the happy hunting-grounds. At 
that day there existed in Oregon in vast numbers a species of wood-rat, 
and our inspection of the graveyard showed that the canoes were thickly 
infested with them. They were a light gray animal, larger than the common 
gray squirrel, with beautiful bushy tails, which made them strikingly 
resemble the squirrel, but in cunning and deviltry they were much ahead of 
that quickwitted rodent. 

124. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

This unexpected development was mystifying. They had all disappeared; 
there was not one in any of the canoes, as investigation proved, for 
disappointment instigated a most thorough search. The Indians said the 
rats understood Chinook, and that as they had no wish to accompany the 
dead across the ocean to the happy hunting-grounds, they took to the woods 
for safety. However that may be, I have no doubt that the preceding visits 
to the burial-ground, and our long talk of the day before, with the 
unusual stir and bustle, had so alarmed the rats that, impelled by their 
suspicious instincts, they fled a danger, the nature of which they could 
not anticipate, but which they felt to be none the less real and 
impending. 

125. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

CHAPTER VII. LEARNING THE CHINOOK LANGUAGE — STRANGE INDIAN CUSTOMS — 
THEIR DOCTORS — SAM PATCH — THE MURDER OF A WOMAN — IN A TIGHT PLACE — 
SURPRISING THE INDIANS — CONFLICTING REPORTS OF THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN — 
SECESSION QUESTION IN CALIFORNIA — APPOINTED A CAPTAIN — TRANSFERRED TO 
THE EAST. THE troubles at the Siletz and Yaquina Bay were settled without 
further excitement by the arrival in due time of plenty of food, and as 
the buildings at Fort Haskins were so near completion that my services as 
quartermaster were no longer needed, I was ordered to join my own company 
at Fort Yamhill, where Captain Russell was still in command. 

126. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

I returned to that place in May, 1857, and at a period a little later, in 
consequence of the close of hostilities in southern Oregon, the Klamaths 
and Modocs were sent back to their own country, to that section in which 
occurred, in 1873, the disastrous war with the latter tribe. This reduced 
considerably the number of Indians at the Grande Ronde, but as those 
remaining were still somewhat unruly, from the fact that many questions 
requiring adjustment were constantly arising between the different bands, 
the agent and the officers at the post were kept pretty well occupied. 
Captain Russell assigned to me the special work of keeping up the police 
control, and as I had learned at an early day to speak Chinook (the "court 
language" among the coast tribes) almost as well as the Indians 
themselves, I was thereby enabled to steer my way successfully on many 
critical occasions. 

127. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

This necessitated severe measures, both to allay the prevailing excitement 
and to preclude the recurrence of such acts. The body was cared for, and 
delivered to the relatives the next day for burial, after which Captain 
Russell directed me to take such steps as would put a stop to the 
fanatical usages that had brought about this murderous occurrence, for it 
was now seen that if timely measures were not taken to repress them, 
similar tragedies would surely follow. Knowing all the men of the Rogue 
River tribe, and speaking fluently the Chinook tongue, which they all 
understood, I went down to their village the following day, after having 
sent word to the tribe that I wished to have a council with them. 

128. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

The conversation waxing hot and the Indians gathering close in around me, 
I unbuttoned the flap of my pistol holster, to be ready for any emergency. 
When the altercation became most bitter I put my hand to my hip to draw my 
pistol, but discovered it was gone — stolen by one of the rascals 
surrounding me. Finding myself unarmed, I modified my tone and manner to 
correspond with my helpless condition, thus myself assuming the diplomatic 
side in the parley, in order to gain time. As soon as an opportunity 
offered, and I could, without too much loss of self-respect, and without 
damaging my reputation among the Indians, I moved out to where the 
sergeant held my horse, mounted, and crossing the Yamhill River close by, 
called back in Chinook from the farther bank that "the sixteen men who 
killed the woman must be delivered up, and my six-shooter also. 

129. Document of Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888 Undated in The American 
Civil War: Letters and Diaries [Document Details] [Collection Details] 

He gave me the necessary authority, and I at once set to work to bring 
about a better state of discipline on the reservation, and to put an end 
to the practices of the medicine men (having also in view the recovery of 
my six-shooter and self-respect), by marching to the village and taking 
the rebellious Indians by force. In the tribe there was an excellent woman 
called Tighee Mary (Tighee in Chinook means chief), who by right of 
inheritance was a kind of queen of the Rogue Rivers. Fearing that the 
insubordinate conduct of the Indians would precipitate further trouble, 
she came early the following morning to see me and tell me of the 
situation. 

130. Document of Below is the text of interview Jeff Van Pelt in 
collection Umatilla, Oregon Oral History Archive at Center for Columbia 
River History. Oral History Archive ..."Van Pelt, Jeff 16-Mar-1999 in 
Umatilla, Oregon Oral History Archive [Document Details] [Collection 
Details] 

Sign language [Lifts middle finger]. If someone did that to you, you knew 
that they were angry with you. If someone did that to you, you knew they 
were being friendly with you. There was a certain way that we could talk 
and we could communicate. And also by using kind of a Chinookan language, 
which was a language that we used in a lot of our trade areas where multi 
groups would come together. So the Sahaptin people were up there speaking 
in the treaty, and at first it started out that Governor Stevens and 
Palmer got up and they would say, well this is what we want to do in this 
treaty and blah-blah-blah. 

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