1938: Rankin, “Frontier Days” of a cowboy

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M. Wilson Rankin (1857-1938), originally from Pennsylvania, was a pioneer cowboy of Colorado & Wyoming…

1888: Indian stabbing affray — Englished Chinook

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Here’s a late-frontier find that’s out of the ordinary: dialogue cited as occurring in Chinuk Wawa, but delivered only in translation.

1879: The Kittitas “Wau-Wau”

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Before Kamloops, another Northwest town had a newspaper called the “Talk” in Chinook Jargon.

1912: Crazy co-inky-dink Indian schwa ad!

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By a bizarre coincidence, this racist advertisement that (I’m guessing) puts Chinuk Wawa into the mouth of a wooden Indian also has the earliest “schwa” symbol I’ve ever seen!

1899: Taking a “clatawa kopa Spokane”, and other things Whites did to the Jargon

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Why was a Ritzville lawyer reported as taking ‘a clatawa copa Spokane’?

1895: Wenatchee Joe’s mine

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What a find!

1871: A Negro boot-black (& a missing pidgin)

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There’s at least one pidgin missing from the flock of languages in this astonished mention of a Portland Black man.

1909: Chinuk Wawa in support of race-mixing

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Iʹm fascinated to find Chinook Jargon brought to bear in an editorial advocating what was called “race-mixing”…

Warm from wine

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Here’s a fun drinking metaphor in (I ain’t sayin’ nothin’) BC Chinuk Wawa.

1902: Red Men headline

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What I love about this Jargon headline: