Submitted by Susan Tripp for Parkersville Day
Thanks to a generous benefactor with a passion for Washougal history, Washougal fourth graders are being introduced to their recent Washougal heritage and long history.
In addition to a new annual legacy field trip to the Two Rivers Heritage Museum, Sam Robinson, Vice Chair and member of the Chinook Indian Nation, is giving a 45 minute, image-rich power point presentation at the schools. The first presentation was at Gause Elementary School on February 25th from 2:15pm to 3:00 pm. Sam opened his presentation with a blessing song and played his drum.
After the song, while the students were clapping enthusiastically, one student said, “I didn’t understand the words, but he sounded good!”
After his opening song, Sam engaged students in stories about the Chinook people then and now. He explained that some stories could only be told during specific months or seasons.
A student asked Sam, “Why are you wearing a hat?” Sam replied that he was quite fond of his hat because it was made by his auntie. Another student asked, Why did the Chinook make everything out of cedar?” Sam confirmed that cedar was used to make hats, baskets, canoes and plank houses.
Another question for Sam was, “Did you make your necklaces?” Sam said he had made some of the strings of beads and others were gifts. The beads Sam had purchased for the necklaces had been traded by the Chinook and were being sold as original in Europe. The Chinook were the largest group of traders and traveled the farthest, up and down the river and the Pacific Coast. So, all the traders adopted the Chinook language as the official trading language, Sam explained.
After hearing that 90% of the Chinook population died from diseases introduced by foreign traders, one student acted shocked when he asked how many Chinook people were left and Sam said, “About 3500.”
In his presentation, Sam shared the Chinook creation story that explained that many thousands of years ago, the Chinook popped out of Thunderbird’s eggs. He told the story and how the Chinook believed animals that were living before people had established rules and ways of living that the Chinook chose to follow.
Sam talked about important canoe journeys, saying that fog didn’t bother them as they felt the fog was a sign of their ancestors traveling with them. He shared a belief that their ancestor’s souls inhabited the canoes and plankhouses made from a living tree. He said, “We care for them, and they care for and protect us.” He talked about the different sizes of canoes from one a woman could carry to one that held over 30 people.
Sam showed an image of the Richfield Cathapolte Plankhouse with the fires lit and the Chinook people inside. He showed items from the Chinook diet that included elk, smelt, camas bulbs, and Wapato.
He said its unknown why the Chinook flattened their foreheads and explained how they did it, going on to say it was a sign you belonged on the Columbia River. He said the practice ended a few generations ago.
At the end of his presentation, Sam showed a recent book published about the canoe reparation made by the fourth generation of the Clark family (from the Lewis and Clark expedition) that was based on a Chinook canoe stolen during the expedition. He said there had been a friendship with ribbing over the years about the incident. Sam donated the book to the school library showing a QR code that starts Sam and others talking about the story.
The Washougal area was popular for Chinook-speaking indigenous people. In the 1920s, many arrowheads were still being found at the Parkersville site area during low tide. To the southwest of the park, the excavation for homes in 1938-39 brought up mortars, pestles, hammer stones, fishing, net weights, and a stone effigy. In 1969, the Oregon Archeological Society collected stone and shell Indian beads, net sinkers, scrapers, drills, and a clay pipe at the south end of the Parker’s Landing historical park. In 1976 the location was designated as a National and State Historic and Archeological Site and then registered as Clark County Heritage site in 2019.
