1906 [1866], WA: It took a party to get Chief Seattle to talk Chinook
A party held in an early Seattler’s Settler’s home on January 16, 1866 was well remembered 40 years after!
One honoured guest was a famous Indigenous leader who you’ve heard of.
The following anecdote is exceptional, in that it goes against a lot of folks’ claims that Siʔaɬ disdained to speak Chinuk Wawa:
And last, but not
least, was our old friend, Chief Sealth, or
Seattle, as he is now called.“The day of the party was an ideal
one, and all were happy and glad when
they came along. The old Indian greet-
ings and those of the Chinook jargon
were among those most frequently used
in receiving the guests. “Klahowya
tillacum,” “Hyas closch six,” “Kum
mika tillacum,” “Nika hiuh pottlatch”
and kindred expressions.
Photos of a lot of the folks involved are shared:
— from “Story of Pioneer Party in King County Forty Years Ago: Picturesque Arrival of Chief Seattle”, in the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of January 21, 1906, page 42, columns 1-7
About the remembered Chinook Jargon: It should be in the incipient Northern Dialect that the Settlers and gold rushers were causing to form. That said, there’s nothing very special in these phrases to tell you which dialect you’re dealing with. I’ll show it as quoted, then in Northern Dialect, then Southern (Grand Ronde style):
- “Klahowya tillacum”
= Tlahowyum, tilihum
= ɬax̣áyam, tílixam
= ‘Hello, friend(s)’ - “Hyas closch six”
= Haiyas-tloosh, siks / Haiyas-tloosh siks
= hayas-ɬúsh, síks / hayas-ɬúsh síks
= ‘Very good, friend / Very good friend’ - “Kum mika tillacum” (this one is written unclearly)
= Kah* maika tilihum?*
= qʰá* mayka tílixam?*
= (‘Where* is your family?*’ - “Nika hiuh pottlatch”
= Naika haiyoo potlach
= nayka háyú pá(t)lach
= ‘I’ll give a lot’
Bonus fact:
Since we’ve sometimes shown Chinook Jargon menus from the frontier and post-frontier times, it’s fun to compare the 1866 party’s decadent bill of fare as remembered by Mrs Martin Luther Cavanaugh of Van Asselt, WA: 
Chicken soup. Clam chowder. Stewed clams. Salmon, smoked, boiled and fried. Salmon trout, sour. Grouse, ducks, quail and snipe. Venison roast. Smoked bear’s ham. Mashed potatoes. Squash roasted. Honey in comb. Preserved wild blackberries. Oregon grape jam. Apples, very few. Pears, none. Milk and coffee.
Bonus bonus fact:
If you want to know the word for “electricity” in Chinook Jargon, just remember it’s kind of an old-fashioned, cranky language. Check out this reference to insane asylums / health spas / take your pick, in Washington Territory days:
“The conversation at the dinner was of
a different order than it is now. We
hardly knew anything of electricity
those days, and if a person had told us
of its marvels at the present day we
would have been prepared to send him
to a place near Tacoma or Medical Lake.
