Journal Entry William Clark’s description of storing salmon in baskets and earthen pits, from 22 and 24 October 1805.
“on those Islands of rocks as well as at and about their Lodges I observe great numbers of Stacks of pounded Salmon {butifully} neetly preserved in the following manner, i e after Sufficiently Dried it is pounded between two Stones fine, and put into a speces of basket neetly made of grass and rushes of better than two feet long and one foot Diamiter, which basket is lined with the Skin of Salmon Stretched and dried for the purpose, in theis it is pressed down as hard as is possible, when full they Secure the open part with the fish Skins across which they fasten tho’ the loops of the basket that part very Securely, and then on a Dry Situation they Set those baskets the Corded part up, their common Custom is to Set 7 as close as they can Stand and 5 on the top of them, and secure them with mats which is raped around them and made fast with cords and Covered also with mats, those 12 baskets of from 90 to 100 w. each {basket} form a Stack. thus preserved those fish may be kept Sound and Sweet Several years, as those people inform me, Great quantities as they inform us are Sold to the whites people who visit the mouth of this river as well as to the nativs below in earthen cache:
at that stage of the water the Salmon must pass up which abounds in Such great numbers of the heads of a Species of trout Smaller than the Salmon. those fish they catch out of the Salmon Season, and are at this time in the act of burrying those which they had drid for winter food. the mode of buring those fish is in holes of various Sizes, lined with Straw on which they lay fish Skins in which they inclose the fish which is laid verry close, and then Covered with earth of about 12 or 15 inches thick.”
Connection with the "Women"
It is of interest to note that the two important Indian women who greatly contributed to the success of the Corps of Discovery were distantly related by language to the Warm Springs and Northern Paiute peoples.
As the Paiute language is Numu, a Shoshoean dialect, it is related to the Shoshone of Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Two of the Shoshone bands had relied extensively on the salmon and were called by the early fur traders, "Salmon Eaters," (Agaidika), one band lived near Shoshone Falls on the Snake River of southern Idaho, while the other band lived along the Lemhi River of eastern Idaho. Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark's giude, was a member of this Lemhi Shoshone band.
The Warm Springs speak Ichishkiin, a Sahaptin language, similar to that spoken by Nez Perce. And it was the Nez Perce woman, Wetxuuwíis, who had come to the aid of Lewis and Clark, when others wanted them killed.
Much of the content of this page was derived from a talk given by Pat Courtney Gold, Wasco, in June of 2003.
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 | | Columbia River Gorge, ca. 1988. |
As Meriwether Lewis and William Clark observed and recorded on several occasions in their journal entries, the area along the Columbia River, from the John Day River to the Cascades, was well populated with numerous Indian villages. Indeed, they had come upon one of the central fishing and trading centers of the Pacific Northwest. Their observations also distinguished some of the principle tribal groupings, e.g., "E-nee-shur" (Tenino or Warm Springs, living along the Columbia), "E-shel-lute" (Wasco, living along the Columbia), and "Snake" (Northern Paiute, living well to the south of the Columbia River), and noted important social, religious and economic activities occurring at the time. But included in those same observations were also an array of incomplete understandings, as well as serious misunderstandings. For example, on October 21, 1805, William Clark noted in his journal encountering some 700 Wah-how-pum people (Teninos; later referred to as Warm Springs), “all of whome have pierced noses." The Warm Springs people did not pierce their noses.
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Pat Courtney Gold talks about "first impressions" the Indians had of Lewis and Clark, including their "smell" and the "sound" of their voices. She also talks about the wealth of European trade objects already acquired before the arrival of the Corps of Discovery. (Interviewed by Duran Bobb, July 8, 2003) |
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Pat Courtney Gold considers some of the challenges Lewis and Clark had in communicating with the peoples of the Columbia River. Pat Courtney Gold continues working on the "sally" bag. See the completed bag at Celebrating: Arts and Basketry. (Interviewed by Duran Bobb, July 8, 2003) |
How curious it must have been for the ancestors of the Wasco and Warm Springs people to observe these foul smelling strangers, who were also so flea and bug infested! Why were they not taking sweat baths, or even an occasional cleansing dip in the river? Why did they not smudge themselves with the burning bows of cedar to remove the infestations of insects from their bodies?
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Brenda Scott talks about Lewis and Clark and other explorers that came along and on how the Indian people helped them out, but also how diseases came to the people soon after. (Interviewed by Brigette Whipple and F. Duran Bobb, October 18, 2002) |
As the big game hunters of the Corps of Discovery were not particularly successful in their pursuit of fresh meat, the meat of another animal was sought and traded for. It always struck our ancestors as not only odd but a little disrespectful that our highly valued salmon was looked upon with such scorn by the men of the Corps of Discovery. Indeed, they seemed to prefer the meat of the dog, who survived as a scavenger. How does the saying go, "you are what you eat?"
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Maxine Switzler shares her perspective on Lewis and Clark and how she learned about them from "an old [Indian] lady." (Interviewed by Brigette Whipple and F. Duran Bobb, October 2002) |
The journals of Lewis and Clark are ripe with comments of the thievery of the Indians. What some might interpret as "thief" others see as proper and due payment. On some days, having been drenched in water, the men of the Corps of Discovery would lay the water-soaked items out along the shore to dry under the sun. But a short time later they would discover some of the items missing, interpreting it as acts of theft. But the men of the Corps of Discovery were also ignoring the common practice of leaving a gift in the territory of your neighbor as you passed through it. Our ancestors simply saw the unattended items as gifts to be secured from those less willing to offer payment.
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Arlita Rhoan considers the early forms of communications with Lewis and Clark and others, that is, "sign language." (Interviewed by Brigette Whipple and F. Duran Bobb, October 23, 2002) |
It was striking that the recorded words of Meriwether Lewis had such a tone of mistrust and apprehension about the Warm Springs and Wasco ancestors on their return trip up river, from April 13 to 23, 1806. He noted many examples of what he called stealing and unfriendly displays by the Indians. Not taken into consideration by Lewis was the fact that the Corps of Discovery was ignorant of another local practice, that of leaving a toll for the villagers near the Cascades for them to portage canoes around this dangerous section of the river. Instead, Lewis and Clark elected to ignore the locals and save valuable trade items. However, the Wasco and Warm Springs ancestors did not ignore the Corps of Discovery upon their return up the river, taking every opportunity to exercise due compensation and retribution.
© Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs 2003
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