1895, WA: David Denny’s Chinook canoe stolen (more Lushootseed / Chinook Jargon)
I haven’t yet tracked down what word of Lushootseed original Seattle settler of 1851 David Denny — you know, Louisa Boren’s hubby — was using as the name of his “Chinook canoe”…
…but Boquade, corrected to Doquade 2 days later, is definitely from Lushootseed, the Salish-family language of the Seattle area. It just sounds right. And I’ve shown how the early Settlers of the Seattle vicinity prided themselves on mixing Lushootseed into their Chinuk Wawa, a previously unknown historical fact.
I wonder if Doquade was a really old canoe? Not too many Settlers needed to get around by canoe anymore in 1895. And I bet it was hard to get one made anymore.
Regardless, I’d be kinda T.O.’ed if my Chinook canoe went missing…And there are plenty of known references to David Denny’s reliance on and love of canoes.
LOST.
STOLEN. From undersigned, one medi-
um sized Chinook canoe, painted reddish
brown: maple gunwales, oak ribbed and
name lettered under bown [SIC], “Boquade.”
Suitable reward for return of canoe or
arrest and conviction of thieves. D. T.
Denny, 512 Temperance street, Seattle.
Wash.
— from the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of May 05,1895, page 15, column 5
It’s spelled Doquade on May 7th, page 6, column 5:
LOST.
STOLEN. From undersigned, one medi-
um sized Chinook canoe, painted reddish
brown: maple gunwales, oak ribbed and
name lettered on the bow, “Doquade.”
Suitable reward for return of canoe or
arrest and conviction of thieves. D. T.
Denny, 512 Temperance street, Seattle.
Wash.
