About 15 miles north of my home in Vancouver, Washington, is the small town of Ridgefield. It sits on a bluff above lowlands, bottomlands, lakes, sloughs, ponds, and swamps adjacent to the Columbia River. The wetlands area is now part of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It is part of the "Wapato Valley" named by Lewis and Clark.
In the 1990's Professor James Ames, Archeologist, Portland State University, led an excavation of the Indian ruins near Ridgefield in the bottomlands. In 2005, as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Celebration, a replica of a Native Indian cedar plank longhouse was constructed near Ridgefield on the Refuge.
The Chinook and Cowlitz River and Lewis River Peoples all lived in this area for 1,500 years. They all build wood houses, in which to smoke and store food, keep dry and warm, work, and socialize. They all fished, hunted, and foraged in an environment rich in resources.
The Chinook were traders and people speaking dialects of the Chinook language, or using a Chinook trading language and sign language, were active in trading goods from Ilwaco to The Dalles. Canoes were in everyday use by all people living along the Columbia River.
Ridgefield City Images Population 4,700 The small town is on a bluff above the lowlands by the Columbia River.
Ridgefield - Chinook House Cathlapotle Plankhouse
Cathlapotle and its Inhabitants 1792-1860. By Robert Boyd. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon, 2011. Index, 209 pages, many maps and charts, place name index, detailed bibliography, art work. FVRL. Fascinating study of native people living the area from For Vancouver to Ilwaco, on both sides of the lower Columbia River. I believe there is also one plankhouse reconstructed at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon. I visited Native American plankhouses and shelters in Northern California at Patrick's Point State Park.
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Ridgefield, Clark County This large refuge includes an auto tour through the wetlands, sloughs, bogs, and lowlands along the Columbia River. A few trails from this road are open only in the summer. Many birds winter here. A second area of the refuge consists of a walking path over the railroad, a reconstructed Chinoon style plankhouse, and many walking trails through these lowlands (soaked in winter).
Ridgefield Information and Travel
Ridgefield Marina On a slough of the Columbia. Kayak rentals, small boat launch, mooring, picnic tables, fishing, restrooms, parking lot.
Blog Posts to the Cloud Hands Blog by Mike Garofalo regarding travel adventures in Washington State.
The Chinook Indians: Traders of the Lower Columbia River. Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown. University of Oklahoma Press, 1988, 372 pages, index. VSCL, FVRL.
Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia. Edited by Robert T. Boyd, Kenneth M. Ames, and Tony A. Johnson. University of Washington, 2015, 464 pages. VSCL. Outstanding collection of articles. First Choice!!
Peoples of the Northwest Coast: Their Archaeology and Prehistory. By Kenneth M. Ames. Thames and Hudson, 1999, 288 pages. FVRL.
Cathlapotle and its Inhabitants 1792-1860. By Robert Boyd. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon, 2011. Index, 209 pages, many maps and charts, place name index, detailed bibliography, art work. FVRL. Fascinating study of native people living the area from For Vancouver to Ilwaco, on both sides of the lower Columbia River.
Lower Columbia River: Ilwaco to Washougal
Northwest Oregon: Astoria to Cape Disappointment
Chinook Indian Nation "The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan speaking tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River. Our nearly 70-year-old constitution codifies who we are and identifies our five constituent tribes – the Clatsop and Cathlamet (Kathlamet) of present-day Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum (Waukikum) and Willapa (Weelappa) of what is now Washington State." Not federally recognized.
The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory. He lived in Willapa Harbor from 1849-1851. By James Gilchrist Swan. Adesite Press, 2017, 448 pages. FVRL.
"James Gilchrist Swan wrote an amazingly interesting and detailed account of his years in Willipa Harbor. The origin of some modern place names, I.e., Tokeland became very clear, for example. His treatise on the nature of Native Americans is especially significant, as is his description of their languages. I especially liked his analysis of how the Hudson Bay Company's strategy to get along with the native people was compared with Governor Stevens' botched treaty proposition along the banks of the Chehalis. Swan was an interesting man in his own right: pioneer, scientist, Indian agent, teacher, revenue agent, probate judge, cultural and natural historian and adventurer. He is buried in an unpretentious grave in Port Townsend, Washington."
"In November 1852 James Swan moved to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington Territory. Fascinated by the Indian communities he encountered, Swan spent the remainder of his life studying their art, material culture, and history. The author of several books, he became the Smithsonian Institution's principal agent in the Northwest, collecting natural history and ethnographic objects from Gray's Harbor through the Alaskan panhandle. He lived among the Makah Indians of Neah Bay where he taught school and was among the first Americans to visit the Haida villages of the Queen Charlotte Islands."
Swan Among the Indians: Life of James G. Swan (1818-1900). By Lucille McDonald. Binfords and Mort, Portland, 1972. Index, 233 pages. FVRL.
Coast Country: A History of Southwest Washington. By Lucile McDonald. Long Beach, Midway Printery, 1989. Index, 183 pages. TRLS.
The Historical and Regional Geography of the Willapa Bay Area, Washington. By Jean Hazeltine. South Bend, 1956, 308 pages. FVRL
Shoalwater Willapa. By Douglas Allen. Snoose Peak Publishing, South Bend, WA, 2004. Index, notes, sources, 286 pages. TRLS.
Chinook Resilience: Heritage and Cultural Revitalization on the Lower Columbia River. By Jon D. Daehnke. Foreword by Tony A. Johnson. University of Washington, 2017, 233 pages, index, bibliography, notes. FVRL. Interesting discussion of evidence for the distribution of Chinook speaking people, and the history of the people in the area. A long and detailed discussion of the creation of the Cathlapotle House in Ridgefield.
Chinook Texts. Collected by Franz Boas. 1984. Includes myths, beliefs, customs, tales, and historical tales as told by the Chinookan people.
Columbia River: The Astoria Odyssey. By Penttila Bryan. Frank Amato, 2004, 96 pages.
Chinook Art, Contemporary Chinook Design Art Products: Hats Bags
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