THE PREMEDITATED EXTINCTION OF THE CHINOOK PEOPLE

Today’s lesson begins with the ill-fated Whitman party.  You know- those Presbyterian missionaries who were slaughtered by the Indians.  We read all about the Whitman massacre in our history books.  What we didn’t read is much more disturbing.  The Whitmans were distributing smallpox infested supplies to the Indians.  Now, we do not know for certain that Whitman and his people knew that the supplies were infected; however, I do not recall any reports of the mission being beset by smallpox which leaves me to conclude that the Whitman party knew better than to touch the supplies. 

Now let’s jump back farther in time to the early 1800’s.  Most of the Chinook nation is suddenly wiped out by viral influenza, ‘accidentally’ brought to the Columbia by British ships that picked it up in Asia.  Records show that only 52 members of the white population contracted this illness, and all of them survived.  This has easily been written off as the Indian population not being used to the white man’s diseases.  This was the excuse used by the American government to say the Chinook people were nearly extinct.  (Isn't it interesting that being 'nearly extinct' equates with being extinct for the government's purposes.  It reminds me of The Princess Bride where our hero was only 'mostly dead'.)  It should also be noted that 'viral infuenza' is someones educated guess, and no one seems to know what disease was killing off the Chinooks, only that it ended in 1841 when the real immigration into the Pacific Northwest begun.  How convenient.

Let's make a parable to better understand this.  Let's say your family has a home, and you go to the bank and borrow money against it.  Suddenly the bank shows up with an eviction notice saying they do not have to honor the agreement because your ancestors are dead making you and your small family virtually extinct.  You argue that you are not extinct, that you have a wife and three children.  The bank will not acknowledge them as your family because they are not pure bloods.  Just to complicate things, you discover your ancestors each died from a disease shortly after visiting the bank.

Now how would you keep the remaining tribes from getting together and causing you grief?  By following methods used throughout history.  You divide and conquer.  Take one portion of them and give them land and power.  Sounds a little like Braveheart, doesn't it?  Now the tribe given land and power will fight to maintain that land and power, turning against their own kind for the survival of their group  (See Chinook testimony).  I want to be clear on this- I do not blame the Quinaults for what they had to do.  I blame the U.S. government for putting them in a position where they felt they had to do this.  Notice that on the first page the Quinaults state that one tribe cannot interfere with the recognition of another tribe; at that point, they should have stopped reading.   Seattle Times article on Tribal Feud

Chief Skamokawa (Skamoque)

Do you know why the Quinaults have a treaty and the Chinooks do not?  When the Washington Governor Stevens gathered the tribal leaders together to make a treaty not all of the tribes were happy with the agreement.  Some of the tribes simply wanted their tribal areas where their ancestors were buried.  Indians disagreeing with the white man?  They must be drunk.  That is the logic that Stevens used to tear up the treaty.  The Indians must be drunk.  Witness the rape of the Chinook Indians here: Chehalis Treaty.  To quote this piece written by the Lanes:

Stevens failed to carry out his instructions and acted

improperly at the Chehalis council. Because of this, the

Cowlitz, Chehalis, Chinook, and Shoalwater Bay Indians were

deprived of their right to a treaty.

A few months later, Gov. Stevens signed a treaty with the only tribe willing to go along with them; the Quinaults, leaving the other tribes, including the Chinook, out completely.