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From: tenas kumtux
Date: 7/20/2002
Time: 9:02:21 PM
Remote Name: 137.53.130.43
James G. Swan is a great source for information on the Chinook. However, by the time he arrived [1852] the culture had changed dramatically.
In 1806 Lewis and Clark reported that the most common type of canoe on the river was the large, northern style. [The early fur traders referred to this one as a sea-going canoe] When Paul Kane visited in the 1840's he found none of these canoes in use.
If you stop and think, this makes sense. These large canoes were the equivalent of the modern-day bus. Disease had reduced the Chinook population to the point where “busses” were no longer practical.
I believe Mr. Swan bought his canoe from the Quinault.
There is another reason which may account for the abandonment of the sea-going canoe... the sea was angry with the Chinook.
Okay, I know that sounds odd, but I’ve been trying to figure this one out for a while.
The Chinook liked whales. When one washed ashore they made short work of it. When one swam into the Columbia [from time to time] they quickly paddled out and dispatched it. Furthermore, from archeological evidence it would appear that they were, at one time, processing a good many more whales than would simply wash ashore. But no white men ever saw them go out on to the sea and take a whale. Why? They had means, opportunity and motive to hunt whales.
I found the answer in the book Wah-kee-nah and her people. In this book an old settler recounts a story told by Queen Sally of the Cathlamet. She had grown up in a Chinook village. When she was very young [before the coming of the white man] the Chinook were still actively taking whales from the sea. After one particular hunt the Chinook were forced to beach the whale at high tide. They attempted this on a narrow strip of beach up against a low cliff. The whole village came out to view the whale from atop the cliff. As the hunters were staking the whale down to keep it from floating off a large wave came up unexpectedly. The wave picked up the whale and the canoes on the beach and hurled them into the cliff, crushing a number of hunters. This all happened as the villagers watched in horror.
This kind of omen would have been taken very seriously by the Chinook, and may account for the use of river and lake portages rather than travel on the open sea.
Even without travel by sea the Chinook managed to cover a great deal of territory. On John Scouler’s voyage north from Ft. George [Astoria] in 1825, both the Makah and Klallum chiefs asked about Comcomly’s well being [two of his sons had just died]. Furthermore, in the same year, a party was sent from Ft. George to the Frazier River. It wasn’t until they reached the Skagit county area that their Chinook guides were unfamiliar with the surroundings