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Nch'i-Wána, "the Big River": Mid-Columbia Indians and Their Land
The mighty Columbia River cuts a deep gash through the Miocene basalts of the Columbia Plateau, coursing as well through the lives of the Indians who live along its banks. Known to these people as Nch'i-Wana (the Big River), it forms the spine of their land, the core of their habitat.
At the turn of the century, the Sahaptin speakers of the mid-Columbia lived in an area between Celilo Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Oregon and Washington. They were hunters and gatherers who survived by virtue of a detailed, encyclopedic knowledge of their environment. Eugene Hunn's authoritative study focuses on Sahaptin ethnobiology and the role of the natural environment in the lives and beliefs of their descendants who live on or near the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs reservations.
At the turn of the century, the Sahaptin speakers of the mid-Columbia lived in an area between Celilo Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Oregon and Washington. They were hunters and gatherers who survived by virtue of a detailed, encyclopedic knowledge of their environment. Eugene Hunn's authoritative study focuses on Sahaptin ethnobiology and the role of the natural environment in the lives and beliefs of their descendants who live on or near the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs reservations.
391 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 5, 2020
Informative but too academic ... some quotes from the Introduction
(2/28/2018, adding 4th star for how often it comes to mind.)
***
quotes
"The land through which the Big River runs is in fact more than a stage; the land is protagonist. The Indian people have always seen the land that way. They speak of the earth as their Mother upon whose nurturing breast they rest. This is a powerful ecological image. Euro-Americans view "Mother Nature" in a different light, as an enemy to be contested: either we rule the land or we are defeated in the attempt. In this Euro-American world view the land is a power to be set in harness--as the mighty Columbia River has been tamed in the service of the burgeoning demands of a rapidly expanding population. The land is a commodity to be sold, an instrument for the production of wealth.
"Ecological issues dominate this text. ..."
"The Indians of the mid-Columbia were not a tribe. They owed allegiance to no one chief, nor did they join in defense of their territory, except as part of a loosely organized reaction to the danger presented by the pioneer invasions of the 1840s and 1850s. Rather, they were people who cherished their individual autonomy, the right of each family to choose where to hunt, fish, or gather foods and with whom to associate. Families came together for the winter in villages strung along the Big River where they recognized the authority of a headman. They also congregated when and where food was abundant--at rich camas meadows in early summer, at points of constriction in the salmon's migratory path, and in the huckleberry meadows in early fall. They dispersed at other times to exploit more effectively the rich diversity offered by the land."
... "My account focuses on the life ways of the mid-Columbia Indians as Lewis and Clark found them ... The mid-Columbia Indians are poorly known ethnographically. They have been treated as poor cousins of their more conspicuous Nez Perce and Cayuse neighbors. The truth, as we will see, is quite otherwise. At the turn of the nineteenth century the Columbia River peoples controlled a rich salmon harvest that they skillfully combined with abundant root foods to support a large population, substantial winter villages, and summer in-gatherings numbering in the thousands."
***
(For related read Stone Age Columbia
Stone Age on the Columbia River
(2/28/2018, adding 4th star for how often it comes to mind.)
***
quotes
"The land through which the Big River runs is in fact more than a stage; the land is protagonist. The Indian people have always seen the land that way. They speak of the earth as their Mother upon whose nurturing breast they rest. This is a powerful ecological image. Euro-Americans view "Mother Nature" in a different light, as an enemy to be contested: either we rule the land or we are defeated in the attempt. In this Euro-American world view the land is a power to be set in harness--as the mighty Columbia River has been tamed in the service of the burgeoning demands of a rapidly expanding population. The land is a commodity to be sold, an instrument for the production of wealth.
"Ecological issues dominate this text. ..."
"The Indians of the mid-Columbia were not a tribe. They owed allegiance to no one chief, nor did they join in defense of their territory, except as part of a loosely organized reaction to the danger presented by the pioneer invasions of the 1840s and 1850s. Rather, they were people who cherished their individual autonomy, the right of each family to choose where to hunt, fish, or gather foods and with whom to associate. Families came together for the winter in villages strung along the Big River where they recognized the authority of a headman. They also congregated when and where food was abundant--at rich camas meadows in early summer, at points of constriction in the salmon's migratory path, and in the huckleberry meadows in early fall. They dispersed at other times to exploit more effectively the rich diversity offered by the land."
... "My account focuses on the life ways of the mid-Columbia Indians as Lewis and Clark found them ... The mid-Columbia Indians are poorly known ethnographically. They have been treated as poor cousins of their more conspicuous Nez Perce and Cayuse neighbors. The truth, as we will see, is quite otherwise. At the turn of the nineteenth century the Columbia River peoples controlled a rich salmon harvest that they skillfully combined with abundant root foods to support a large population, substantial winter villages, and summer in-gatherings numbering in the thousands."
***
(For related read Stone Age Columbia
Stone Age on the Columbia River
June 25, 2019
Having grown up along this stretch of the Columbia River, I found this book fascinating. This book has a combination of first hand experience gained from living with modern Sahaptins, and information from academic studies.
This book is a deep dive and is full of the kind of details that I loved, but others may find tedious. A few examples are what kind of tree makes the best long house poles, how do you make a dip net, what roots did women gather at what time of year, why didn't Sahaptins eat sturgeon or crawfish, what is our best guess at the pre-contact population. For me this book gave enough detail that I could imagine what it would be like to live in my native land before the arrival of Europeans.
This book is a deep dive and is full of the kind of details that I loved, but others may find tedious. A few examples are what kind of tree makes the best long house poles, how do you make a dip net, what roots did women gather at what time of year, why didn't Sahaptins eat sturgeon or crawfish, what is our best guess at the pre-contact population. For me this book gave enough detail that I could imagine what it would be like to live in my native land before the arrival of Europeans.
December 30, 2021
The Wanapum Tribe is a rarely talked about group and that is why this book is so cool. The writer goes into depth about a group of people that needs to be talked about. He talks about their history and he does a great job of going to the people and getting their history down.
September 29, 2014
A detailed and valuable ethnography of the Mid-Columbia Indians. If you like this kind of history, you will find the book easy to follow and informative.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews