Dawg
Sez
22
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This
is the fifth installment of my brief history of the Columbia River.
As I've mentioned, I am only considering the sections of the river
that form the Oregon-Washington border. As Lewis and Clark's voyage
down the river dovetails neatly with this part of the river, I will
include snippets from their journals as well.
The
journals are best read in their original format even though the
spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are all problematic. Any
added annotation is mine. The river, historically, had changed very
little for thousands of years before Lewis and Clark recorded what
they saw.
Memaloose
'Native
people' is a clumsy phrase. Those who use it mean well, and there is
no better term. 'Indian' carries a slightly (and in some cases, not
so slight) pejorative tint. And, of course, the word is based on a
serious error of navigation on the part of one Cristofor Columbo.
Indigenous people, the original inhabitants of a region, have no
nifty moniker. They might be known as first people, aboriginal
people, or even autochthonous people. Native will do for this
account.
From
the Dalles to Hood River is about 22 river miles. The terrain and
flora begin to change as the river cuts its cleft through the
Cascades. The transition is obvious. Lewis and Clark make several
observations on the change.
Near
the end of October, 1805, they pass a village near the Klickitat
River and stop to smoke a pipe.
after
brackfast we proceeded on, the mountains are high on each Side,
containing Scattering pine white oake & under groth, hill Sides
Steep and rockey; at 4 miles lower we observed a Small river falling
in with great rapidity on the Stard. Side below which is a village of
11 houses here we landed to Smoke a pipe with the nativs and examine
the mouth of the river, which I found to be 60 yards wide rapid and
deep ...
As
they drifted and paddled downriver, they came upon 13 graves on an
island. This is Memaloose, today only 1/3rd remains above the
flooding waters of Bonneville Dam. Repeatedly looted and, in native
people's view, desecrated by the grave and obelisk of one Victor
Trevitt, the native remains were relocated in 1937 (either by the
various tribes or the Corps of Engineers), and the count then was
given at 650 burials.
Penny Postcard 1908, Gifford photograph
Clark
described the above ground graves as 'squar vaults.' These burials,
odd to Clark, were common among native people world wide. In Tibet,
for example, a similar practice is called 'sky burials.' The body is
placed in the open, usually a high rocky place, and allowed to
decompose and be scattered by winds and birds and other carrion
eaters.
passed
three large rocks in The river the middle rock is large long and has
Several Squar vaults on it. we call this rockey Island the Sepulchar.
The last river we passed we Shall Call the Cataract
River
from the number of falls which the Indians say is on it- passed 2
Lodges of Indians a Short distance below the Sepulchar Island on the
Stard. Side river wide, at 4 mile passed 2 houses on the Stard. Side,
Six miles lower passed 4 houses above the mouth of a Small river 40
yards wide on the Lard. Side
Clark's
'Sepulcher Island' is, of course, Memaloose. The name Memaloose
seems to be
derived from the Chinook word memalust,
which means "to die".
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