The Story of a Native American House Post the Tumwater Hospital That
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Number 5 April 2018 Shifting Patterns of Prejudice: The Story of a Native American House Post The Tumwater Hospital That Never Was Thurston County Pioneer, Teacher and Community Activist: The Life of Ada Sprague Mowell The Port Townsend Southern Railroad Early Washington Records from Oregon $5.00 THURSTON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL The Thurston County Historical Journal is dedicated to recording and celebrating the history of Thurston County. The Journal is published by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation as a joint enterprise with the following entities: City of Lacey, City of Olympia, City of Tumwater, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington/Olympia Chapter, Lacey Historical Society, Old Brewhouse Foundation, Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, South Sound Maritime Heritage Association, Thurston County, Tumwater Historical Association, Yelm Prairie Historical Society, and individual donors. Publisher Editor Olympia Tumwater Foundation Karen L. Johnson John Freedman, Executive Director 360-890-2299 Lee Wojnar, President, Board of Trustees [email protected] 110 Deschutes Parkway SW P.O. Box 4098 Editorial Committee Tumwater, Washington 98501 Drew W. Crooks 360-943-2550 Janine Gates James S. Hannum, M.D. Erin Quinn Valcho Submission Guidelines The Journal welcomes factual articles dealing with any aspect of Thurston County history. Please contact the editor before submitting an article to determine its suitability for publica- tion. Articles on previously unexplored topics, new interpretations of well-known topics, and personal recollections are preferred. Articles may range in length from 100 words to 10,000 words, and should include source notes and suggested illustrations. Submitted articles will be reviewed by the editorial committee and, if chosen for publication, will be fact-checked and may be edited for length and content. The Journal regrets that authors cannot be monetarily compensated, but they will gain the gratitude of readers and the historical community for their contributions to and appreciation of local history. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation Written permission is required to reproduce any part of this publication. Copyright © 2018 by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. All rights reserved. ISSN 2474-8048 Number 5 Table of Contents April 2018 2 Shifting Patterns of Prejudice: The Story of a Native American House Post Drew Crooks 14 The Tumwater Hospital That Never Was Richard McCartan 21 Thurston County Pioneer, Teacher and Community Activist: The Life of Ada Sprague Mowell Jennifer Crooks 34 The Port Townsend Southern Railroad James S. Hannum, M.D. 51 Early Washington Records from Oregon Karen L. Johnson Back Cover Who/What/Where Is It? Megan Ockerman On the cover: From 1972 to 1992, a Native American house post boldly stood in front of a Nuu-chah-nulth (or Nootka) house screen on the second floor of the Washington State Capital Museum as part of a long-term display. Photo courtesy of Drew Crooks. See article on page 2. 1 SHIFTING PATTERNS OF PREJUDICE: THE STORY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSE POST Drew Crooks This article traces the unusual jour- ney through space and time of a Na- tive American house post from its ori- gins in a Native village to becoming part of a museum collection. The ob- ject’s history vividly shows the shifting patterns of prejudice in the Olympia community. First it is necessary to briefly look at the traditional cultures of the North Pacific Coast from where this house post originated. The Northwest Coast Native societies had social classes, in- cluding chiefs, commoners, and slaves. Chiefs inherited economic and ceremonial rights. Anthropologist Phil- ip Drucker in his classic study titled The Northern and Central Nootkan Tribes stated it well: “The real fountainhead of chiefly pow- er is clear. Whatever authority a chief Northwest Native American societies had derived in final analysis from the traditionally included chiefs, common- various rights he had inherited. The ers and slaves. This photograph, taken head chiefs, the ‘real chiefs,’ were by Edward Curtis in 1910, shows a those who held the most, the lower Hesquiat woman of high rank. The chiefs, those who owned less, and Hesquiat form part of the Nuu-chah- commoners were simply people who nulth (or Nootka) Nations on the west possessed none at all. The Nootkans coast of Vancouver Island. Photo cour- carried the concept of ownership to an tesy of Wikimedia Commons. extreme. Not only rivers and fishing 2 places close at hand, but the waters of “At some time this god occupied a the sea for miles offshore, the land, proud location on a river bank in the houses, carvings on a house post, the far north. Owing to years of erosion of right to marry in a certain way or the the bank the god was undermined and right to omit part of an ordinary mar- fell into the river, which carried him riage ceremony, names, songs, danc- on to the sea, and there he took a es, medicines, and rituals, all were southerly course until he was picked privately owned property.”1 up in the Straits of Juan de Fuca by a sea captain and by him sent to a sa- Thus the “carvings on a house post” loon keeper in Olympia.”4 represented inherited chiefly privileg- es. These house posts physically sup- This was the story taught to visitors to ported the central ridge pole of a win- the Washington State Capital Museum ter longhouse. They were a type of to- in the 1960s and 1970s.5 It is dra- tem pole, but differed from house matic, but is it true? How could an frontal poles, memorial or commemo- interior house post leave its Winter rative poles, and welcome figures. In House and fall into a river? Possible, Native society what was important but not very likely. about house posts was not the actual poles themselves, but the inherited The last account of the house post’s rights to display them along with ac- origin seems more likely to be true. An companying stories. Certainly the article published in the Morning Olym- poles were not in any way considered pian on October 19, 1901, related the idols or gods in the sense of being following tale: “This old totem pole has worshipped as some uninformed non- a history familiar to old-timers. It was Natives believed. formerly an idol in the possession of the Macah [Makah] tribe of Neah bay This article will focus on one Native Indians. In the early seventies it was American house post that came to surreptitiously removed from Neah Olympia in the late 19th Century. bay and came into possession of There are three different accounts of Frank Guttenberg. .”6 its origins. One story is that Olympi- ans acquired this post in 1863 on the Thus it is quite possible that the post Queen Charlotte Islands (now known came from the Makah Tribe. The as Haida Gwaii).2 However, the carv- carving is in the Makah/Nuu-chah- ing is clearly not Haida in style.3 nulth style.7 The Makah of Neah Bay are linguistically and culturally related Another more popular origin account to the Nuu-chah-nulth (or Nootka) was related by George E. Blankenship people of Vancouver Island’s West in his 1923 book Lights and Shades of Coast. A closer look at Makah house Pioneer Life on Puget Sound: posts of the mid-19th Century is nec- essary to better understand the 3 situation. Fortunately, the records of This house in Neah Bay belonged to early anthropologist James G. Swan Colchote, a descendent on his moth- shed a powerful light on 19th Century er’s side from Deeart [or Deeah], Makah culture including house posts. founder of the village. The hereditary Indeed, on March 20, 1861, Swan chief was appointed a sub-chief by drew a sketch of a Makah winter Governor Isaac Stevens and partici- house with carved house posts. Cur- pated in the January 1855 Treaty rently, this drawing is preserved in Council of Neah Bay. In fact his signed Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book “X” was second on the list of Native & Manuscript Library.8 American signers.9 The old chief died, In the 19th Century, James Swan preserved much information about the Makah Native people at Cape Flattery. His 1861 drawing of “Colchote’s Lodge, Neeah [Neah] Bay” records the interior of a Makah chief’s house, including carved house posts. Photo courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. 4 as recorded in James Swan’s diary, on January 20, 1863.10 The house posts in Colchote’s lodge that were recorded by Swan are most interesting. At the least, they are very similar to the house post that later came to Olympia. James Swan was fascinated by the carvings of Colchote and described them in his 1870 book titled The Indians of Cape Flattery: “In one of the lodges at Neeah Bay are three carved figures, on whose heads rests the huge beam that supports the roof; of these one is intended to repre- sent Deeahks, or Deeaht. Another fig- ure, in the centre, is named Klessa- kady, and is symbolical of sunrise. His head is surmounted with a crescent- shaped cap, and between his feet is a head representing night. The beam above is marked with circular holes, to represent stars, and according to Kal- chote, the old chief, who placed it James Swan (1818-1900) wrote exten- there, it may be said to show the man- sively about Native American and ner in which the sun, when rising, American settler life in Washington thrusts the stars away with his head Territory and State. One of his noted and tramples the night under his feet.