1858: A salute of one hundred guns
“Pioneers”, the first waves of non-Indigenous newcomers into the Pacific Northwest, were always associated with Chinook Jargon.
Image credit: Washington Times
Here’s one example showing that these Settler colonizers saw themselves as Chinookers very early on, well within the frontier era:
A salute of “one hundred guns,” and a complimen-
tary dinner was given on the 16th ult., to Capt. De-
Lacy. The first toast drank, was as follows:
Capt. W. W. DeLacy and the Bellingham Bay Trail:
The fame of the former shall be echoed over the Cas-
cades to the Rocky Mountains and from the Rocky
Mountains to the farthest seas; while the latter shall
stand as a monument of his triumph, so long as there
are gold regions to explore, or immigrants to be en-
riched by the success of his labors.
Among the other toasts were the “Pioneers of
Washington Territory,” which was very appropriately
responded to in Chinook; the ” First Pile Drivers,”
the “First Brick House,” the “Twin Cities of Belling-
ham Bay,” the “Express Companies,” the “Auction-
eers of Whatcom,” and the “Boatmen of Whatcom.”
A committee was appointed to prepare a leather
medal for presentation to the President of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, and a complimentary reso-
lution passed to Mr. W. R. Garrison, “for the partial-
ity he had manifested with his steamships in favor of
American soil.”
— from the Olympia (Washington Territory) Pioneer and Democrat of September 10, 1858, page 2, column 6
