Chinook Indian Talk

Re: Any stories or legendsof the Chinook People?

From: tenas
Date: 2/22/2003
Time: 5:46:27 AM
Remote Name: 137.53.105.80

Comments

I believe the “outcrop” of chalk you’re speaking of is the one mentioned by several of the early journalists.

It was located on the west face of Tillamook Head just below its summit. It was noted that the natives would lower themselves by ropes and harnesses to reach the strata that was on the cliff face.

You can read about this in the journals of Lewis and Clark, see the entry for Jan 7, 1806.

Deposits such as this are not uncommon in the Keasey Formation siltstone and sandstone of the region. The white clay in such strata was a useful pigment. The Chinook and their neighbors made use of it not only to paint their bodies and their art but also to “whitewash” the interiors of their lodges to make the most use of ambient light.

It is curious that this site was of such importance as it was very difficult to access. I believe that the location of the site was what made this pigment so valuable that the natives would risk life and limb for it.

Hills and mountains, particularly those that featured large stone outcroppings, appear to have been sacred to the Chinook and their neighbors. [Places such as Mount Coffin and Neahkahnie Mountain.] This site, being so close to the summit of Tillamook Head, may have been viewed as having strong Tamanowas powers.

I doubt it would offer much for the Archaeologist. The ropes and baskets used in collecting the white clay would have disintegrated long ago. And the few stone implements they used there are of little value [they gathered common flat stones to scrape the clay out of the cliff face].

As the site could be reached easily from nearby villages I doubt there were any major campsites at the summit.

What is intriguing to me is the report by one early journalist of “hieroglyphic” writing upon the cliff face at the site.

As for the connection between the Chinook and the Tillamook… well, let me offer this:

In 1811, during their first winter at Astoria, the Pacific fur company hired a Cathlamet hunter to supply them with elk meat. He proved to be a skilled hunter and kept the Astorians well supplied that first winter. This young hunter soon moved in with his Clatsop relatives, as this was less of a commute than the round trip to Cathlamet bay. The following winter the Astorians had the man placed in chains and severely reprimanded. For instead of hunting for elk near Astoria that fall, he and his Clatsop relations had wandered down to spend a month or two with their Tillamook relations. The young Cathlamet had taken with him the musket the Astorians had loaned him. The Astorians felt that as long as he was in possession of the musket he was in their hire and any game he killed belonged on their table.

There are numerous examples from the early documents of natives from one village living and working in another village. Tribes simply did not exist then as they do today.

Last changed: February 22, 2003