Category Archives: Uncategorized

The first big environmental battle in Oregon’s brewing timber wars.

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Jim

If you rummage around the Internet like so many of us do, you might stumble across the website for the Alsea Clinic, a modest community health care provider for a remote logging community deep in the Oregon Coastal Forests. Listed … Continue reading →

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Two Spirit Woman: the Kootenai Doomsday Prophetess

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Jim

Two-spirit Woman: the Kootenai Doomsday Prophetess  The arrival of fur traders into the remote western valleys of the Canadian Rockies was the catalyst for the transformation of a big boned gangly Kootenai Indian girl, Ququnok Patke (One-Standing-Lodge-Pole-Woman), into the most famous and influential … Continue reading →

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The Chinook Canoe

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Jim

The Chinook Canoe was a craft of extraordinary beauty and was as much their home as it was the outward expression of their graceful relationship with the life-force that sustained them, the Columbia River.  These canoes came in all sizes … Continue reading →

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Of dogs, children and economy

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Jim

The Indians of the Lower Columbia had little use for horses, as the forests were far too dense to traverse with the cumbersome horse, and besides their highways were the rivers and streams of the coastal range where narrow footpaths … Continue reading →

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What the mushrooms think about “being late”.

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Jim

The Indians claim that time flows differently on the reservation, for me it’s  true when I’m off the reservation. So this is a short piece on what the mushrooms think about “being late”: And I’m stamping through the Douglas fir … Continue reading →

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Chief Cowaniah and the Klickitat Raiders

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Jim

The Klickitats: The story of Klickitats’ ascendency during the European penetration into the Pacific Northwest is one of the most vivid examples of how outsiders could take advantage of the social turmoil amongst the Indians and turn it to their … Continue reading →

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A different perspective on walking in the woods…

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Jim

Upon reading my materials and observations on the Oregon Coast Range the question frequently arises as to what distinguishes my perspectives on this landscape from that of others. I can’t say I really thought much about this while I was … Continue reading →

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Pisgah Home Road – what’s behind this curious name?

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Jim

What an odd name “Pisgah Home Road” is! The name refers to the Mountain from which Moses first saw the promised land. But the local story about this mountain road above Scappoose is even more interesting… Apparently, it refers to … Continue reading →

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Portland landscape 200 years ago.

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Jim

When I’m climbing in the hills above the Columbia River I often stop to gaze down into the valley and try to imagine what it looked like before contact with the European cultures. Most people’s preconception of what the lower … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian lore, Lower Columbia Trails, Misc Trails & Trips, Plant lore, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

“Sauvie” Island? Why not “Logie’s Island” or even “Wapato Island”?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Jim

Nowadays the island at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, is referred to as “Sauvie Island”, or sometimes “Sauvie’s Island” by the older residents. It’s a favorite spot for Portlanders to cycle, to hunt water fowl, or even … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian lore, Lower Columbia Trails, Pioneer Lore, Plant lore, Uncategorized | 5 Comments