Sahalie Club organized
How fitting that a club called < Sahalie > ‘high; elevated’ had an elaborate hierarchy — in Chinuk Wawa.
There were many social and benevolent clubs in the Pacific Northwest that matched this description in the post-frontier era.
Here’s one, from the northwest corner of Washington state:
SAHALIE [‘high; elevated’] CLUB ORGANIZED
…The officers of the new club are:
Hyas Tyee [háyás táyí, ‘big chief; president’], Dan Cloud.
Tenas Tyee [tənəs-táyí ‘little-chief; vice president’], Miss Lucile Chambers.
Tsum Tillakum [t’sə́m-tílixam ‘writing-person; secretary’], Charles E. Cline.
Chickamen Tillikum [chíkʰəmin-tílixam ‘money-person; treasurer’], Molly Stark Williams.
These with the following are the board of trustees, or Kloshe Tilliums [łúsh tílixam-s ‘good people’][:] Dr. D. Mulder, Prof. P.A. Wright, and Harry Savings.
Those members who have attained to a perpetually snow clad height are to be known as Tillikums Ehile [tílixam-s sáx̣ali? ‘people above’?], other members who have that pleasure yet in anticipation are Sitkums [sítkum ‘half’].
— from the Lynden (WA) Tribune of October 5, 1911, page 1, column 4
