The Daily News from Port Angeles, Washington • Page 12

Chapter 1: The Indians here for centuries Geographically the North Olympic Peninsula of Washington State is a spiny circle of mountains around a central peak that soars to 8,000 feet. The two counties of the Peninsula-Jefferson and sides by water: the Pacific Ocean on Juan de Fuca on the north, Admiralty In on the east. Between the water and the 'orest and Park) is wii VTCIICK CU1U U1C nearly all lie inside the Olympic National 0 ta a fringe of privately owned land, a mere 3 2 per cent of the two counties. Spain was the first and the most detei mined of the world powers to explore the outer edge of what we now call the Pacific Northwest. England's Sir Francis Drake had such a good look around in 1579 that Spanish nav igators were fearful he had discovered the mythical Strait of Anian and was keeping the knowledge to himself.

But irost of the exploring and the charting was done by Spain. THE DAILY Port Angeles, Jan. 4,1976 bounded on three west, the Strait of et and Hood Canal mountains (which With the 19th century, however, and th expansion, Spain had dropped from the kcture. For almost three decades, from 1818 when the Join uiivv. ucvauco, iium xuio wueii me join, ucuupancy ireaiy was signed by the United States and England until 1846 when frha nt A ful.

11 4.1.1 the northernmost was established at the part of Washington period of westward Occupancy Treaty 49th parallel, this teetered between ownership by one or the other of these two nations. At this time England claimed everything north of the Columbia River, and the United States claimed south of Alaska. The Peninsula lay toward the nter of the disputed territory. A settler there was takirg chances on his ownership of the land, or his citizenship cautious settlement. For centuries the Indians were here, little marked for Indians lived gently aa VUIK U1C11 violence for their fellow men.

There wen: many tribes before the white man came, some small and some that numbered in the thousands. We will never know Indian history is half legend or both. It made for md the land. It was pon it, saving their ic true number for half stories-passed-along, A History of the North Olympic peninsula by Patricia Campbell probably improved in the telling, and none of it written down until much later. The anthropologist Franz Boas, whose studies of Indian life are most respected, was on the Peninsula in the 1890's.

He estimated then that in 1780 there must have been about 400 Chimacums living on Quimper Peninsula and along Hood Canal, 2,000 Clallams (with their sub-tribes) spread in 17 villages from Discovery to Clallam Bay, and another 2,000 Makahs and Ozettes at Neah Bay and west of Lake Ozette. Farther down the coast were perhaps 500 Quileutes and to their south, half that many Queets, or Quaitsos. Both of these were linguistically related to the Salish Clallams and Chimacums. These then were the main tribes. Including small bands of Hohs and Tsooes their total number would have been close to 6,000.

Theirs was a harsh life, but well-ordered within its own peculiar structure. The geography of the country made for isolation, but there were overtones of contact with an outside world. Common in legends of the Peninsula Indians was their explanation of the aurora borealis: There was a tribe of little men who lived in the ice to the north, in the always-night country. Now and then the sky was lighted as they built their great fires to try out the blubber upon which they lived. It may be that Peninsula Indians once shared a culture with the Eskimos.

They both may have migrated here from Asia, as some anthropologists believe. What we know certainly is that when the white man came the Indian had been here for a long, long time and had developed a culture that very well served his purpose. Peninsula Indians moved about less than Indians of the interior, usually from season to season as their food sources changed. In fishing or berrying season they would travel for some distance and set up transient summer camps with shelters of bark or rush mats. Their winter homes were permanent, returned to when the food-gathering was done.

In general these houses were of split cedar boards, often large enough to accommodate several families. They would be arranged in a line along the beach with smaller slave huts in front to bear the weight of an enemy attack. A series of poles stood before the houses ready to receive the heads of slain enemies. The Indians dressed adequately in garments made from twined cattails of spruce roots and wool. Before trade blankets became available to them, they raised their own wool dogs.

Early traders described the dogs as brown or white, and very bushy. Their coats were said to be thick enough to be lifted off in a solid mat when sheared by a mussel-shell knife. Mountain goat wool also was prized for its long strong hairs, and may have been obtained by trading. In some tribes their household equipment had a touch of elegance in finely carved and decorated wooden bowls and serving dishes, and intricate baskets some of which were so tightly woven as to be watertight. Others cared less for appearances.

The Clallams said, of themselves, "We only care to have enough to eat and to be ready for war." They were religious in that everyone believed in the existence of spirit transcendent to his own powers, and followed elaborate rituals to please or propitiate that spirit, or spirits. Comforting to them was a conviction that their way of life followed precisely the pattern laid down for them by the deities. They had not been educated to know that everything attractive was either sinful or dangerous. Instead, they assumed that whatever they wanted was right for them to have. There were taboos, of course, but if one took care to observe them he could be reasonably sure of his place in this world and the next.

This much we know for it was a continuing pattern until after the white man with his proclivity for writing things down had been here long enough to record it. As for the Indians' early history, the relationships between the tribes, the reasons for their various locations, we have only legend to guide us. next Sunday An introduction to the pabe This is the first of 52 pages being published by The Daily News in observance of the bicentennial of the United States. The pages will be published each Sunday during 1976. The top half of the page is devoted to a history of the North Olympic Peninsula written by Patricia Campbell.

The history is not told merely in historic events and dates, but in the experiences of those who lived during those times. While true to the facts, Mrs. Campbell's 52-chapter manuscript is a human and readable story of the past. It is a history which all should be able to read, enjoy and understand. Mrs.

Campbell is a long-time resident of the Peninsula who has used the area's colorful background as the setting for most of her popular novels. She has lived in Jefferson County and lately in Port Angeles, but has done a great deal of research on all areas of the Peninsula. In addition to her professional abilities as the author of books, she also has been writing a weekly column for The Daily News for about years." Also on the page is the first in a series of photogr iphs of things of the Peninsula's antique of the week, if you please. The antiques are owned by area residents and reflect the Peninsula's heritage. The space introduction is to be devoted to the writing of aken by this students from Peninsula schools.

The essays will provide a little insight into the thoughts oi next this country's Indian earrings This pair of silver earrings was pulled from the ears of an Indian woman, one of the victims of the Dungeness Massacre in the fall of 1868. The massacre was of Canadian Indians camping on Dungeness Spit and was carried out by Clallams who said it was in retaliation for an earlier raid by the native Canadians. The earrings turned up again at a potlatch, where the new owner presented them as a gift to the bride of Joe Johnson of Jamestown. Vears later she gave them to a good friend, Marian Lambert Vincent of Blyn. Mrs.

Vincent's daughter Marian Taylor now treasures them among her collection. She keeps them in an Indian basket woven of bear grass and cedar bark and made on the Peninsula well before 1900. Tltllll.HllpptlllllilS From a Great American Savings and Loan Association 8 II 111 AR1 HIVI is IV sv 3: 1752: A shocking revelation. Some people just won't leave well enough alone. True, Ben Franklin is an educated man.

Even a do-it-yourself doctor. But he's always tinkering with some new idea. The other night, folks saw him flying a kite in a thunderstorm. He was actually a human lightning rod, and a few more volts could have killed him. Electricity isn't his only claim to fame.

If he's not designing streetlights, he's starting a fire company. Or, an insurance company. He's a printer and a publisher. He gave us our first library. We think he has a pretty good future in politics, too.

If only he'd learn to dress a little fancier, there's no telling how far he might go. Sff The Port Angeles Savings Loan Association is proud to bring you this, the of a year-long series of "Great American Happenings." These will appear each Sunday throughout the 1976 Bi- Centennial year it is hoped Port Angetfi Saving I lean Asst. 01 W. front, that this series will focus your thoughts on that proud period leading to and during the founding of our nation. Each week we will bring you special messages in this spot to keep you informed of our services.

215 Taylor, Port Towwrad. rin mt fv far EX mu fe-jr or ma aa OB IB 0 0 JUf MB.