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CLARK COUNTY INDIANS WERE NOT COWLITZ - Page 4
The 1855 Removal-Chief Umtux of the Lewis River
One year before the settlers' flight to St. Helens, another set of events unfolded, leading to the accidental death of Chief Umtux. In October 1855, Indians were seen near the mouth of the Lewis River. [1] This was alarming to settlers because there had been considerable hostilities in 1855, although (or because) treaty negotiations were being concluded in that year [2]. Judge William Strong, a military commander at Vancouver, wrote a letter to the editor of the Oregonian to explain what happened next:
“Considerable anxiety has been felt about the tribe, who reside opposite St. Helens about the mouth of the Lewis river. It has been reported that a band of some 300 Indians were there exhibiting evidences of an unfriendly feeling towards the whites, and the inhabitants of the neighboring country have been much alarmed. Yesterday a party of 30 went from Vancouver for the purpose of investigating and taking such precautionary measures as may be required. They found the Indians disposed to be peaceable and evidently much frightened. There are not over thirty warriors among them in all, and they have been taken to Vancouver and dis-armed, so that there is no further cause for alarm from them; they will all be there to-night, with their wives and children.” The Oregonian --October 26, 1855
Two weeks later on November 10 it was reported in the Oregonian, as related by an arrival from Vancouver, that “about 150 Indians belonging to the Clickitats, who have been under the protection of the Indian agency at Vancouver, made a general stampede on Thursday night last [November 8] [3].” Judge [Capt'n ,William] Strong and thirty men pursued them to Battleground. Chief Umtux was killed during this incident and the rest returned to Vancouver.
It is usually inferred that Chief Umtux was among the 30 warriors relocated from the mouth of the Lewis River two weeks before. By November 8, there were about 150 warriors camped together at the Fort just before the attempted escape. Strong's letter states that some of the Lewis River band were “with the Yakima.” [4] Writers in later years continued to identify these Indians as Klickitat. [5].
Dr. Beckham contends that Strong's son, Thomas Nelson Strong, who wrote about these events fifty-one years later, knew Chief Umtux in his own childhood and wrote from memory.
Mr. Strong was the son of the first territorial judge, grew up in Cathlamet, and he wrote a memoir about his experiences, including his memories of the Cowlitz Chief Umtux. [6]
This is not true. Strong was not yet three when Umtux died and he did not claim to be writing about his own experiences or memories. Strong did not give sources for his “tales.” [7]
Cowlitz advocates cite testimony a century later by Thomas Umtuch as support for the contention that Chief Umtux was Cowlitz. BIA researchers have not accepted this tie, but whether he was Cowlitz or not, little is known about the rest of the 30 warriors removed from the Lewis River area or their tribal affiliation in 1855. All the evidence from the time identifies them as Klickitat.
One of the Indian eyewitness to the 1855 events, Stwire G. Waters, later described Chief Umtux' tribal ties. He was with that band as a child when Umtux was killed, and he grew up to become Chief of the Yakimas. His story was retold in 1935 by L.V McWhorter (Old Wolf), curator of the Washington State Historical Society and adopted member of the Yakima Tribe. Here is what Chief Waters said in 1920 about Umtux:
“The government sent soldiers to the Klickitats on Lewis river to get them to Fort Vancouver. The government wanted the Klickitats and also the Titon-nap-pams, who lived in the mountains at the head of the Cowlitz river. The military officers did this, and all of the Indians went to Fort Vancouver. Umtuch was the head man, was the chief of the Titon-nap-pams.”
Old Wolf explained:
“In his relation of the Umtuch tragedy, Chief Waters calls the chief's band the Titon-nap-pams. This band, listed as the Twitin-apam in the Bureau of American Ethnology handbook of American Indians, was a minor branch of the Klickitat tribe.” The Oregonian, June 9, 1935.
Thomas Umtuch, said to be the grandson of Chief Umtux, gave a deposition in 1955. Dr. Beckham estimated his age at the time as in his 60's. That would place his birth date in the 1890s, 30 to 40 years after the Chief was killed. Thomas Umtuch recalled his father saying that the Chief went fishing for turtles “right above Vancouver.” Whether these occasional fishing trips preceded white settlement cannot be established; but the testimony of Thomas Umtuch is clear that the Chief lived somewhere else and “used to move up there once in a while” for turtles.
Whatever Thomas understood about his grandfather's tribal affiliation did not come from the Chief. By this time, however, Dr. Ray's theory that Taitnapan, Klickitat and Lewis River Cowlitz were all the same was emerging. Indian claims organizations developed and cases got underway in the early 20th century, and the Cowlitz advocates had strong incentives to expand their territorial claim. Thomas Umtuch's testimony would be considered more reliable if the Cowlitz connection were supported by contemporaneous documents or confirmed by eyewitnesses. As it stands, it could have been influenced by the leading questions recorded in the transcript and professional 20th century advocacy.
There are important discrepancies in Thomas Umtuch's testimony. He reports that his grandfather lived around Battleground far from the mouth of the Lewis River. Except for the 1855 event leading to his death, there is no record of Chief Umtux being present in the Battleground area. However, it appears in the land records of the 1860s through 1890s that Wawalux, a son of Chief Umtux became a patented property owner near Battleground and lived there for many years. [8]
When asked a leading question during his deposition, Thomas Umtuch testified that Battleground was in Cowlitz County. Battleground has always been part of Clark County.
If Thomas Umtuch's testimony is accepted at face value, the blood relationship he related does not establish Cowlitz tribal affiliation. It is consistent with one Cowlitz man having married into a Klickitat band. His son, being _ Klickitat or Yakima, also took a Klickitat or Yakima wife and the grandson, Thomas Umtuch, was born, as he testified, _ Cowlitz and _ Klickitat or Yakima. Occasional intermarriages do not create tribal mergers.
The BIA researchers did not agree that there was any evidence of Umtux being either Cowlitz or Taidnapam. Their work was published in 1997 and exhaustively reexamined all the evidence, including the Catholic Church Records.
There is some indication that the Lewis River Umtux may have taken over the Cathlapotle Chinook after Cassino's death in 1848. More recently, a Caples descendent recalled this:
“Near the mouth of the Lewis River, on the east side, an old Indian Chief named `Umtuchs' had a settlement of his people, many of whom were semi-civilized. Among those were two brothers whose sir name was Johnson. They were fine specimens of Indian manhood, and had attended the Mission School not a great distance from Oregon City. Both spoke English fluently and could read and write. They frequently came bringing venison, salmon, wild blackberries, also huckleberries when in season and exchanged them for different periodicals. Their preference was `Harper's Weekly.'” [9]
There was one Johnson family recorded in the Catholic Church records for Vancouver. Three sons were born to them and baptized by the priests. Two survived, George and James II, born 1845 and 1847. They were teenagers in the late 1850s. Their father, a Scot, drowned in 1855. Their mother, Jane, was Chinook and Quinault. [10]
BIA historians did extensive work to determine the tribal affiliation of the Umtux band near Lewis River. They cite several references to a Chief Imtuch, an acknowledged Cowlitz Chief, who lived on the Cowlitz River. This man died in 1853.
Based partly on a 1915 interview with a niece of the Lewis River Umtux, the BIA historians concluded that the Lewis River Umtux was not Cowlitz. They attribute the confusion to Thomas Strong, whose 1906 writing they described as shallow and undocumented. “The depth of Strong's knowledge is questionable.” BIA concluded that this was a case of mistaken identity and that Umtux of the Lewis River was not Cowlitz. [11]
Fortunately, there is a contemporaneous record by two eyewitnesses: The son of Chief Umtux of the Lewis River band, and father of Thomas Umtuch, applied for a land title in 1876. He made this statement in his application:
"I, Wawalux Umtuts formerly of the Klickitat tribe of Indians do solemnly
swear that I have voluntarily dissolved all connection with that tribe, and
that it is bona fide my intention to forego all claim to or share in any of
its annuities or benefits, and in good faith to perform the duties of a
citizen of the United States." [12]Umtux' niece and the remnants of her band living near Battleground were reported to be Klickitat by her 1915 interviewer, Glenn Ranck, a prominent local writer and historian. Ms. Cosike was said to be 90 or 100 years old; so would have been in her thirties or forties when Untux died. The article is long and detailed and does not mention the Cowlitz. It says her band is the last of the pure-blood Indians in Clark County and that they belong to the Cathlapodle Tribe, a branch of the Klickitat Indians.
“All told this little handfull does not number more than a dozen, although with their roving disposition, there are always a few of them coming and going on the trail leading to the Yakima Indian Reservation.” [13]
Footnotes
[1] The Oregon Argus, October 6, 1855.
[2] The Yakima Treaty was signed June 9, 1855.
[3] The Oregonian Nov 10, 1855.
[4] Thomas Strong, son of William, was born in March, 1853. When he was 53, in 1906, he wrote about these events and referred to the Indians as “Coweleskies.” He said the Cowlitz River was known as the Coweleskie and that these Indians lived along that river and both branches of the Lewis River. The time period is not given and no source is cited. Cathlamet on the Columbia, Thomas Strong, Ch 15, (1906).
[5] Legends and Traditions of Northwest History, Hon. Glenn N. Ranck (1914), History of the Northwest, Oregon and Washington, Elwood Evans, North Pacific Historical Company (1889).
[6] Talks given to La Center City Council March 10, 2004 and Woodland on April 13, 2004.
[7] Preface to Cathlamet on the Columbia, supra.
[8] He owned two parcels, one of which was patented in 1870 and sold in 1883. A person of similar name is shown in the 1870 Clarke County census as a farmer. Don Umtuch, also a descendent of the Chief, reported that Wawalux was son of the Chief.
[9] Clark County History Fort Vancouver Historical Society Vol 1 p 50 (1961)
[10] Catholic Church Records Vancouver II p 37,38,68,95, A-41,2.
[11] Historical Technical Report p 58 et. seq.
[12] Homestead Application #1508, General Land Office Vancouver. Microfilm, National Archives.
[13] Oregonian 8-8-1915
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