1912: Address delivered at…Grand Ronde! (Part 5 of 5)
Qalis and Alex Code sent along the “Address Delivered at Dedication of Grand Ronde Military Block House at Dayton City Park, Oregon, Aug. 23, 1912” by M. C. George, published in The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 1914), pp. 64-70.
Our final installment is from page 69.
It mostly repeats stuff we’ve heard from other sources, as you’ll see.
But this is a nice capsule argument for why Chinuk Wawa matters:
The old Indian jargon is disappearing. Gen. Sheridan, who spoke it fluently, calls it “the Court language of the Coast tribes.” It would be of historical importance to preserve in this Museum record translations of this old common tongue of Hudson’s Bay Indian times. Though mainly a trader’s language it was made up of many words in common use by the Indians. Through it the Indian by well known accents and gestures could express, often even eloquently, their heart emotions; and all along the coast they took to it quite naturally. A.B. Meacham, in his [book] “Wigwam and Warpath,” gives a number of occasions when the rude, untutored eloquence of Indian character found vent in the Chinook language. One of the most striking instances of Indian heart-felt jargon was given me by Mr. Van Trump, who, with Gen. Hazard Stevens, made the first ascent of Old Mt. Rainier (then called by certain tribes Takoma,) who were guided to the snow-line by old Slui[s]kin, who there in pathetic Chinook speech fervently implored his friends not to climb the snow and ice to the summit, because up there on the snowy heights was the throne of the Great Spirit himself, — the Saghale Tyhe, who was sure to punish — possibly through storm and avalanche, such sacrilege…
