Tag Archive: american indian pidgin english

Jimmy’s Kill, a Tsimshian tsall tsale

J.H. McGregor, “Jimmy’s Kill“.  BC Mining Record.  Christmas Supplement, 1900, pages 68-72. A narrative seemingly based on the writer’s actual experiences in far northwestern British Columbia, “Jimmy’s Kill” has dialogue that rings true… Continue reading

Caroline Leighton, Life at Puget Sound

“Life at Puget Sound: With Sketches of Travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon, and California, 1865-1881″ Boston: Lee and Shepard / New York: Charles T. Dillingham, 1884 The title and subtitle tell you… Continue reading

Gold, Gold, in Cariboo!

I came across a pretty interesting book, “Gold, Gold, in Cariboo: A Story of Adventure in British Columbia”, that has Chinook Jargon as well as dramatic features that make it worth a read.… Continue reading

Cruisings in the Cascades

Looking through an antiquarian bookseller’s website, I spied a neat-sounding book that was new to me. They wanted a shocking price, but Google Books had it as a free ebook 🙂 Turns out… Continue reading

A trip to Metaline

To paraphrase Daniel Johnston, have you been to Metaline?  If you had visited that mining camp on the BC border in Washington’s first year of statehood, you might have found Chinook Jargon useful.… Continue reading

Bella Coola Courier, May 31, 1913

The Bella Coola [BC] Courier, May 31, 1913: This newspaper issue carries a vivid full-front-page narrative of Empire Day celebrations at the Indian reserve in Bella Coola, British Columbia.  Lots of interesting 100-year-old… Continue reading

From Copenhagen to Okanogan, part 4

[Final installment.  See previous episodes for more info on this fascinating pioneer memoir…life in the Okanogan Highlands of Washington State, 1880s-1930s.  Most of what I’ve excerpted in this blog happened in the last… Continue reading

Alfred Downing, “I Signal an Indian from Opposite Shore”

The superbly readable naturalist-historian Jack Nisbet of Spokane has a column “Boundaries” in the free North Columbia Monthly, out of Colville.  Thanks to Jack for this find… His current (April 2012) column is… Continue reading