Ancient Places (26 page)
Authors: Jack Nisbet
When I risk a glance up, I’m already at the island’s east end, and I decide to duck under the protected brow of basalt rather than face a tough upwind return. The moment I round that rock corner, the solitary fisherman reappears. Given that this is the second time our paths have almost crossed, it only seems polite to pay him a visit.
The ice turns bad again around the foot of the island. Elemental forces have broken the surface into fist-sized geometric shapes and glued them together like pillow basalt, so that I have to stumble along at a painful rate. Without actually staring, the fisherman sneaks glances at my progress. I, on the other hand, have to come to a dead stop twenty feet away in order to size him up; otherwise, I’ll fall flat on my face.
The man is short, squarely built, and appears to be a Russian. If so, he and his kin have a rich history in the Columbia Basin, ranging from homesteaders who began as Volga River farmers dispatched by Catherine the Great to a much more recent stream of settlers emanating from the splintered periphery of the Soviet Union. I think of one schoolboy I met recently who knew all about trapping and preparing pelts; in order to prove it,
he had brought in a red fox-skin winter cap, complete with long earflaps, which a Ukrainian uncle had made for him.
From my tentative vantage point I can see that the lone fisherman’s black wool cap has similar protective flaps, and that his body is wrapped in a quilted orange parka meant for a much larger man. Fearful that he might think I’m some kind of game warden, I smile and nod my head to put him at ease. He flinches just enough to keep me from catching his eye.
It takes longer to close that last short distance across the fragmented ice than it did to skate around the entire island, but once committed, I can’t very well swerve away. I say hello at what I think is a comfortable distance, and feel the wind scatter all the sound. It is really whipping now, and I’m suddenly aware of the cold. There’s nothing to do but edge my way along until I’m right beside the fisherman in the lee. I nod and smile again. He nods but doesn’t smile.
“I hope my clumsy steps don’t bother your fishing,” I shout, wondering what could have drawn such a foreign arrangement of words from my mouth.
“Da,” the man mutters. He is standing next to a hole in the ice, hands in his parka pockets. A heavy black spinning rod lies draped across the opening. It’s impossible not to notice that although the hole was obviously hand-chopped through ice nearly fourteen inches thick, its circumference makes a tidy almost-perfect circle.
“Am I disturbing the fish?”
“Da.” He does not seem annoyed and perhaps doesn’t understand what I’m saying. There are two more holes nearby, each one hewn with skillful precision toward some ideal roundness. I point to the closest opening, spread my hands apart, and rotate them to form a tight circle. He nods, and looks at my skates.
“Having any luck?”
“Da,” he answers, pointing to a tin pail beyond one of the holes.
I struggle over to the bucket and admire a nice catch of small trout. Beside the pail, there’s a heavy short-handled ax propped against a battered tackle-box lid. The ax is pretty close in size and heft to the standard fur trade item that David Thompson offered to Plateau tribal people two centuries ago. There’s something here, I think. This guy knows fish. He knows the tools of his trade. He knows his own version of the north country from the other side of the globe, and parts of it translate directly to the place where we are standing now.
I stalk back to the first hole in the hopes of sharing some of these parallel worlds. I nod, and the fisherman nods back.
I would like to find out how he got here, what forces spun him across the frozen taiga to land on a lake where he could chop such neat circular holes. I picture Odysseus, setting off to challenge an entirely unstable world. I wonder how to ask this man to tell me a story.
After a few more silent moments, I let a heavy gust of wind push me away from the trio of black holes. There’s some ice nearby that looks close to skatable, and as things smooth out, I spot my shoes, waiting far across the bay. I venture a glance back at the fisherman as he tends his pole. Maybe if we meet out here again, the wind will not be blowing so hard. Then he might be able show me the way he tunnels down, through time and space, to reach the fish.
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have happened without the help and encouragement of these generous people and institutions.
Kathy Ahlenslager, Merle Andrew, Bruce Archibald, Steve Arno, Jim Baugh, Steve Box, Roy Breckenridge, Tom and Susan Bristol, Angela Buck and family, Pam Camp, Sharon Carroll, Francis Carson, Kay Comer, Jackie Cook, Helen and Win Cook, Chalk Courchane, Francis Culloyah, Jim Ellis, Ellen Ferguson, Pauline Flett, Ron Fox, Vi Frizell, Em Gale, Darlene Garcia, Dean Garwood, Joseph Goldberg, Charlie Gurche, Laurel Hansen, Jan Hartford, John Haugerud, Michael Holloman, Lindsey Howtopat, Larry Hufford, Gene Hunn, Tony Johnson, Gene Kiver, Phil Leinhart, Estella Leopold, Chris Loggers, Ruth Ludwin, Gary Luke and everyone at Sasquatch Books, Ann McCrae, Ben Mitchell, Pat Moses, Karen Myer, Wally Lee Parker, Madilane Perry, Kathleen Pigg, John Phillips, Richard Pugh, John Ross, Dick Scheuerman, Mark Schlessman, Beth Sellars, Brian Shovers, Darby Stapp and Northwest Anthropology, Michael Sternberg, Marsha Wynecoop, Tina and Judge Wynecoop, and Henry Zenk.
Asa Gray Herbaria, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Clayton/Deer Park Historical Society, Deer Park, WA; Eastern Washington Historical Society, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane, WA; Federal Records Center, Cheney, WA; Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Loon Lake Historical Society, Loon Lake, WA; Montana Historical Society, Helena, MT; Multnomah County Historical Society,
Oregon City, OR; Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room, Spokane, WA; Spokane Tribal Preservation, Wellpinit, WA; Stevens County Historical Society, Colville, WA; Stonerose Interpretive Center, Republic, WA; and University of Oregon Library, Special Collections, Eugene, OR.
HAPTER
N
OTES
Chapter 1: Chasing the Electric Fluid
1
: “as if to bid us good night”: Thompson,
Writings,
Vol. 1, 126.
2
: “a Meteor of globular form” and related quotes: Ibid., 126–27.
3
: “phenomena that are peculiar”: Ibid., 125.
4
: “We seemed to be in the centre” and related aurora borealis quotes: Ibid., 152–58.
5
: the global aurora … as a dynamic, undulating oval: Akasufu, 41–49.
6
: Kootenai elders: in Canada, the Kootenais are known as Ktunaxa First Nations People.
7
: one of David Thompson’s maps: Thompson,
Map,
sheet 7.
1
: “Spokane Natural Wonder Gives Free Ice on Hottest Day,”
Spokane Daily Chronicle,
July 19, 1929, p. 1.
2
: layers of sage leaves: Ross,
Spokane Indians,
436.
3
: reports about “ice caves”: Halliday,
Caves of Washington,
111–12.
4
: “cold air wells” in Thompson Falls: Dufresne,
A Heritage Remembered,
203.
5
: A local geologist named Thomas Largé created a map: Largé, “Glaciation.”
6
: Largé proposed that ripple marks: Largé, “Glacial Border.”
7
: naturalist David Douglas and missionary Samuel Parker: Douglas,
Journal,
208; Parker,
Journal,
290.
8
: J. B. Leiberg postulated: Leiberg, “Bitterroot Forest Reserve,” 256–57.
9
: Pardee visualized how this dam had impounded: Pardee, “Glacial Lake Missoula.”
10
: Bretz published the first: Bretz,
Glacial Drainage,
573–608.
11
: YouTube videos monitoring the removal of concrete dams: Howard, “Spectacular Time-Lapse Video.”
12
: Some geologists contended: Waitt,
Case for Periodic, Colossal Jokulhlaups,
1271–86.
13
: Breckinridge concluded that the bottom: Breckinridge, “An Overdeepened Glaciated Basin.”
14
: One of Thompson’s maps: Thompson,
Map,
sheet 7.
15
: “a range of Knowls to our Right”: Thompson, “Journeys in the Spokane Country,” 287.
16
: “all well, they have these 2 days caught many Trout”: Ibid.
1
: Early details and quotes from Ellis Hughes: Ward, “The Willamette Meteorite.”; Pruett, “Ellis Hughes;” and Pruett, “Oregon Meteorites.”
2
: a geologist exploring Oregon’s southwest corner: Pruett, “Ellis Hughes.”
3
: a fifteen-pound aerolite: Lange, “Oregon Meteorites,” 106.
4
: their lodestone was owned: Fulton, “Oregon Iron & Steel Company.”
5
: A. W. Miller—“a student of geology”:
“Searches for Meteor,”
Morning Oregonian,
October 23, 1903, p. 7:1.
6
: “The ‘meteor’ was covered in sacks”: “Contest for Oregon City Meteor,”
Morning Oregonian,
October 28, 1903, p. 7:1.
7
: “the monster may have been buried”: “Iron Lump A Meteor,”
Morning Oregonian,
October 31, 1903, p. 4:1.
8
: Colonel Hawkins, of the Portland Free Museum: “Museum May Get It,”
Morning Oregonian,
November 2, 1903, p. 10:3.
9
: “The taking and carrying away of all sorts of things”: Ibid.
10
: famous Athens meteor: “Meteor Discovered Near Oregon City Larger Than Peary’s Famous Find,”
Morning Oregonian,
November 3, 1903, p. 4:2.
11
: “Clackamas Meteoric Iron”: Kunz, “Clackamas Meteoric Iron,” 107.
12
: “Napoleon of young American zoologists”: Koch, “Henry A. Ward,” Part 3, p. 2.
13
: “[Ward] is an enthusiast on the subject”: “Deals in Meteors,”
Morning Oregonian,
February 13, 1904, p. 9:1.
14
: a detailed description of the Oregon meteorite: Ward, “The Willamette Meteorite.”
15
: The molecular structure: Buchwald, “Willamette, Oregon, U.S.A.,” 1311–21.
16
: a massive fireball: “Forest City Meteor Caused Litigation,” Greene Iowa Recorder, July 17, 1929, 13:1.
17
: a legal twist of his own: Pruett, “Ellis Hughes.”
18
: “Ta-mah-no-us”: Gibbs, Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, 25.
19
: “The court found for the land owners”: “Ellis Loses the Meteorite,”
Morning Oregonian,
April 29, 1904, p. 4:1.
20
: “the meteor will be added to the collections:” “Hughes Will Appeal Meteor Case,”
Morning Oregonian,
May 11, 1904, p. 12:3.
21
: they re-valued the meteorite: “Fell from Sky,”
Morning Oregonian,
January 20, 1905, p. 4:1.
22
: “What is there to show that the Indians dug it?”: “Oregon Iron Co. v. Hughes,”
Pacific Reporter,
47 Or 313, 82, p. 572.
23
: the Willamette Meteorite was unveiled: “Meteor Is Unveiled,”
Morning Oregonian,
August 24, 1905, p. 10.
24
: “I have had a small piece cut from the Willamette meteorite”: Pruett, Papers.
25
: a rough biography of the Willamette Meteorite: Buchwald, “Willamette, Oregon, U.S.A.,” 1311–21.
26
: “The whole mass being corroded”: “Oregon Iron Co. v. Hughes,”
Pacific Reporter,
47 Or 313, 82, p. 574.
27
: Willamette Meteorite “did not fall where found”: “Cast of a Big Meteor,”
Morning Oregonian,
March 29, 1908.
28
: Pugh postulated that the Willamette Meteorite originally plunged: Pugh, “Origin of the Willamette Meteorite.”
29
: the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde: Thompson, “Tribes Claim Willamette Meteorite.”
30
: “It should have been kept here”: “Cast of a Big Meteor,”
Morning Oregonian,
March 29, 1908.
for Roots
1
: Called “cha-pel-el” or “shapallel bread.”: Moulton,
Journals,
vol. 5, 371–72.
2
: The word in Chinook jargon,
saplil
: Ibid.
3
: “a kind of biscuit”: Ibid., vol. 6, 205.
4
: “2 pieces of Chapellel and Some roots”: Ibid., vol. 7, 113.
5
: five dogs, along with hazelnuts, dried berries, and more root bread: Ibid., 118.
6
: “An umbelliferous plant”: Phillips,
Plants,
196.
7
: “The noise of their women pounding”: Moulton,
Journals,
vol. 7, 239.
8
: “filled with horsebeef and mush of the bread of cows”: Ibid.
9
: “The cows is a knobbed root”: Ibid., 234.
10
: “about 6 bushels of the cows root”: Ibid., 271–73.
11
: “We would make the men collect these roots themselves but there are several species of hemlock”: Ibid., 275.
12
: “a parsel of roots and bread”: Ibid., 275.
13
: “The Broken Arm gave Capt. C.”: Ibid., 339.
14
: some botanists insist these two species cannot be separated in the field: Cronquist,
Intermountain Flora,
414.
15
: The Okanagan Salish word for this deceptive plant: Turner,
Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville Indians,
68.
16
: The biscuitroots of the Columbia Plateau have adapted: Schlessmann, “Systematics of Tuberous Lomatiums,” 16–17.
17
: Plant systematists who study
Lomatium
pollination: Schlessman, “Expression of Andromonoecy,” 134.
18
: naturalist David Douglas: Douglas,
Journal,
163.
19
: families living around the Yakama Reservation: Hunn,
Nch’I-Wana,
99–109.
20
: “their horses were all in the plains with their womin gathering roots.”: Moulton,
Journals,
vol. 7, 134.
21
: Mary Jim: “I am a Palouse Indian”: Scheuerman,
Palouse Country,
52.
22
: Little Sister and Doodlebug story: Flett,
s-qwellum’t
’, 8–11.
23
: “Indians tented off”: Spokane House Journal, April 26, 1822.
24
: “The natives eat the tops” Pursh,
Flora,
197.
25
: “
Umbelliferae,
perennial … the tender shoots” Douglas,
Journal,
168.
26
: The Sahaptin man arched his fingers: Lindsey Howtopat, conversation with the author, May 23, 2013.
27
: “THE REAL INDIAN COUS”: Henry Spalding, plant label, Gray Herbarium, Harvard University.
