1918: Oregon pioneer reunion w/Chinook singing
Even World War 1 couldn’t keep the Oregon oldtimers from partying down in Chinuk Wawa!
As usual, even 28 years after “the closing of the frontier”, they habitually named their favorite activities in the Jargon, and sang together in it.
Oregon Pioneers In
Annual State ReunionThe 46th reunion of the Oregon Pion-
eer association will be held June 20
at Portland in the public auditorium.
The announcement is made that all per-
sons coming to or born in the original
territory of Oregon up to 1859 inclusive
are eligible to membership without re-
gard to their present residence. Mem-
bership applications may be had by
writing the secretary, George H. Him[e]s,
auditorium, Portland.The program for the day will include
an address of welcome by the mayor of
Portland and response of W. H. H. Du-
fur, 1859, president of the association.
The annual address will be delivered
by Judge Fred W. Wilson of The Dal-
les, son of Judge J. G. and Mrs. Eliza-
beth Wilson, pioneers of 1852 and 1851.As a special service, there will be
greetings to Mrs. Rebecca J. Barger, a
pioneer of 1847, who was crowned
“mother of Oregon,” last year. She is
now 93 years old.There will be a “Klosche Muck-a-
muck” in the auditorium at 4:30 o’clock
by the organized Woman’s auxiliary of
the Oregon Pioneer Association. After
the “Klosche-Muck-a-Muck“
will be the social hour, “hi-yu wa-wa
hi-yu he-he.[“] In the evening at 7:30
o’clock there will be the annual business
meeting and election of officers.
The annual camp fire will begin at
8 o’clock in the evening, past president
T. T. Geer, 1848, presiding. At this camp
fire five minute addresses will be made
by pioneers and old time melodies will
be sung. Also Chinook songs, old time
and pioneer fiddling.The oldest male pioneer will receive
a prize and also the oldest pioneer
couple. Those reieiving [receiving] prizes hereto-
fore are barred.The Indian war veterans will hold
their annual meeting at the Masonic
Temple on June 19, with a banquet at
noon and a business session in the af-
ternoon.For information regarding both meet-
ings, write George H. Himes, secretary,
Auditoriom [Auditorium], Portland.
— from the Salem (OR) Daily Capital Journal of May 27, 1918, page 2, columns 4 & 5
Bonus fact:
The wording “hi-yu wa-wa hi-yu he-he” = lots of talking lots of fun.
One way we could look at it is that a comma was left out; it’s true that punctuation is often screwy in old published samples of the Jargon.
But another valid view could be that this is an example of fluent (especially Northern Dialect) speakers’ habit of leaving out pi (‘and’). They did this a lot, when speaking of two, or more, things that naturally go together…
