Spotted in the wild: the Tupshin wolf pack
Listening to my favorite local environmental news show on community radio (because that’s how I roll), today I heard a mention of the “Tupshin” wolf pack!
t’ə́pshin = ‘to mend, to patch’; ‘a patch’
The Grand Ronde Tribes dictionary of 2012 defines it both as a verb and as a noun. I wish there were examples shown of each use.
From the Washington state Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) website:
Tupshin
Tupshin – Formed in Chelan County near Stehekin in the North Cascades Recovery Region. Confirmed breeding pair. Minimum known pack size at the end of 2025 was four. There was one known natural mortality of a wolf in this pack territory in 2025.
Bonus fact:
The name is from Tupshin Peak in the North Cascades, which brings up a fun added Chinook Jargon fact.
Tupshin Peak, WA (image credit: Wikipedia)
According to Wikipedia, “The mountain’s name comes from Chinook Jargon and means “needle”.”
I should have pointed out that some folks have understood t’ə́pshin as ‘needle’ when I wrote about this word last year.
The usual words for ‘needle’ are actually k’ípʰwat (Southern & Central Dialects) and needls (Northern Dialect).
