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The Chemawa American
P r in t e d a t C h e m a w a , O re g o n , a n d D e v o te d to th e In t e r e s t s o f In d ia n E d u c a tio n
Vol. X X
W ednesday, May 1, 1918
A N UNRECO G NIZED FORCE
Weird and strange as it may seem, our hearthfires
today burn on the very spot where once curled the
smoke of the Indians’ campfires. Their whispering
voices still haunt our hills, the groves of our valleys,
and the oak and fir of our mountains. In fact there
is not a region in all of this northwestern country that
does not silently present a record of that long past
golden age o* the aborigines, an age immortalized by
a people whose whole life was characterized by a per
petual happy hunting ground, where no unrest of civil
ization interfered and no white man appropriated his
haunts.
From the far away northland to the sunny south
land plains, every spot of the way is eloquent of the
history, lore and legend—quaint and whimsical—of
this vanishing race.
The social organization was very simple. Beyond
the family the principal basis for organization were
the villages and the language. The common bond
which united the Indian into groups was the similar
ity of language.
Their religious beliefs and ceremonies varied some
what in different areas; and all united in attributing
life, intelligence and supernatural powers to the ani
mate and inanimate in nature. There was a belief in
a life hereafter, but of a life unaccompanied by an
idea of reward or punishment. Disease was supposed
to be caused by some small material, supernaturally
present in the body.
We obtain a great deal of their religious thought
through their myths. The mythology of the coast
Indians differs greatly from that found in other parts
of north America. Still, there is a similarity in the
beliefs of these Indians to those of primitive peoples
of all races.
The Indians’ nomenclature and legends cling to our
mountains, rivers, lakes. Indeed, all Oregon is an
incomparable autograph book of these first inhabitants.
Come with me in fancy to Shasta, where I was pri
vileged to visit one summer. We shall pause just long
enough to learn a little of the folk-lore in which this
region so richly abounds. Our camp will be among
the giant redwoods, where to our north Shasta rears
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skyward its miles of ice and snow and pierces the blue
sky. Near us are encamped a few pitiable remnants of
a once proud and happy people. And, as we stand
gazing up at the giant trees which have stood as guards
over the land for centuries, we see before us the old
Indian village which nestled in the very spot 150 years
ago. Thatched huts are scattered here and there, and
in front of one sits a young girl grinding acorns. Her
home is covered with the skins of many animals, for
her father is a great hunter. She is dressed in skins
ornamented with shells, and near her, sitting on a car
pet of pine needles, is the wrinkled old grandmother
weaving a basket. Soon we see the mother winding
her way through the trees carrying a basket of water
upon her head. Food must be prepared for the hunt
ers will return soon. Then the stalwart men approach
the hut, laden with deer; and in the twilight with the
stars just beginning to peep through the leaves of the
trees, with a group of her grandchildren about hei,
the revered old grandmother slowly rocks to and fro
as she musically croons out the legend of Mount Shasta.
“ Long, long ago, when the world was so new that
even the stars were dark, the Great Spirit above, Olel-
bis, could not see through the darkness to the new
earth. With a large stone he bored a hole in the sky.
Then, through the hole, he pushed down masses of ice
and snow until a great pyramid arose on the plain.
Olelbis climbed down through the hole, stepping from
cloud to cloud, until he could put his foot on top of
the mass of ice and snow. Then with one long
step he reached the earth. The sun shone through
the hole in the sky and made the earth warm and soft.
When it was soft enough, Olelbis bored with his
fingers here and there in the earth and planted trees.
Streams from the melting snows watered the trees and
made them grow. Then he gathered leaves that fell
from the trees and blew upon them, and they became
birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces; out
of the small end he made fishes and put them in
the streams; of the middle piece he made all the ani
mals except the grizzly bear. From the big end he
made the grizzly bear, who was master of all. So
strong did the grizzly grow that Olelbis feared the
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