Yakima camping, day 2

May, 2019

Day 2 here in Yakima started out slowly. I tidied up inside the trailer, washed the dishes from dinner and breakfast, checked email, looked at maps and my list of things to see while here in the Yakima area, then I puttered around outside the trailer. Later in the morning, I saw the Camp Hosts sitting outside so I went over to chat with them. They sure were nice folks.

What I will remember especially about him was that, yesterday, after I had pulled into the campground and backed my trailer perfectly into its campsite in one easy motion, and then I was being careful and deliberate about setting up the trailer (making sure the electricity worked, leveling the trailer, lowering the jacks, locking the tongue, etc) … I was almost done with all that when I noticed this Camp Host fellow sitting outside his rig. I waved and he waved and then he said “you got that nailed! don’t you. Good job! You sure do that better than most people!” Even though I knew I was doing a good job, still that made me smile. 🙂 I bet he has seen all sorts!

Anyway, on this morning of the second day here, the two of them and I chatted about a great number of things … mostly camping related but other things too. Eventually, we ended our conversation. I then took another stroll through another part of the campground, this time over to the Yakima River which is about a quarter mile away from the campground. And then I ate my lunch back in my trailer. After lunch I jumped into my big white truck and went out to explore!

I stopped here first …

 

Oh, this place was wonderful! I spent three hours here, and I’m not usually a museum sort of person. Hmm, at least I don’t think of myself as being very much interested in those sorts of things. But I’m noticing on this blog that I am always interested and impressed by this sort of thing, so I guess I’d better correct my view of myself. I sure loved this place … the Yakama Nation Cultural Center and Museum.

The photo immediately above is from the late 1800s and is of a deserted lodge where several generations of one family would live, or where sometimes two or three families would live. This traditional lodge shape inspired the shape of the current Cultural Center and Museum.

I spent three hours in the museum, and then came back the next day to see a few more things and to talk with one of the Yakama women who worked there. I learned a lot … and I learned that I don’t know much. Except for 6.5 years as a child away from this area, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest all of my life and thought I knew quite a bit about the place and the people, and yet the more I explore, the more I find things that I don’t know much of anything about. My mother was a voracious reader and she loved talking with all sorts of people when we traveled about. I love to learn too, just like my mom, so I’m happy when I come across things I know nothing about, or very little about. Today was one of those days and this museum and its exhibits were wonderful … go see it!

The Yakama Nation is made up of 14 tribes … the Palouse, Pisquose, Yakama, Wenatchapam, Klickitat, Klinquit, Kow-way-saye-ee, Li-ay-was, Sk’in-pah, Wish-ham, Shyiks, Oche-Chotes, Kah-milt-pah, and See-ap-Cat. The map below shows, in yellow, the land these people inhabited since “the time of no-home, before history began” .

Today, the green area on the map is the land of the Yakama Nation (all 14 tribes) as a result of the treaty of 1855. As it did with other native groups, the government of the USA took land away from the Yakama people without negotiation or permission or appropriate compensation, by simply giving title of the land to members of the USA nation or to the USA government itself, without negotiating with the Yakama Nation or its people. You may hear that there were negotiations, but the Yakama people didn’t speak or read English, so translations were made by people from the USA government. In the end, more than 12 million acres of land were taken … with the Yakama Nation now living on just over 1 million acres.

The word “yakama” is likely a mispronunciation of the Yakama word e-yak-ma, which means “family”. The people of the Yakama tribe called themselves the Waptailmim which means people of the narrow river. Their language is called Ichishkíin Sínwit.

When on the move (usually from late spring into early autumn), the Yakama people lived in large lodges that housed several people as in one of the photos above or in smaller lodges (photo below) that housed fewer people. These lodges were built with wooden poles and covered with fiber mats or with animal hides. The photo below is from 1900. It was probably just as comfortable and serviceable as my travel trailer.

For more permanent structures in the winter, the Yakama people lived in pit houses, also known as earth lodges (see photos below). Pit houses were built mostly below ground with a wooden framed roof covered with mats made of animal hide and cattail fibers. Pit houses were usually 12 feet wide and meant for one family. The earth around the lower part of the home kept the home warmer in winter, and reduced the amount of windage around the upper part of the home that was above ground.

 

Salmon was a staple in their diet. They would catch fish using nets, spears, and wooden fish traps. They would hunt deer, elk, and small game such as rabbits and ducks. They also gathered berries, nuts, edible roots and other plants to cook.

The Yakama used canoes made out of lightweight birch bark to traverse the rivers. Horses weren’t available to the Yakama until after the settlers brought them from Europe, so the Yakama people would simply walk or run from place to place. Sometimes in the snow they would wear snow shoes to help them walk.

 

The details available in this museum of the lives of former Yakama Nation people are much too numerous to list here. And yet, even with all they do have of their history, I was told that their lives changed so much in the 1800s when the European settlers came, that most of the customs and knowledge and details of the time before that are gone.

Besides the history of the older times, this museum also details the history of the Yakama people from the time of the coming of the settlers until today. The Yakama people are proud of who they are today and proud of their history. They are kind, thoughtful, spiritual, strong, independent people who are finding their way in today’s world while keeping their past close at hand. There are very troubling parts of their past (I will tell you about Celilo Falls in a future post), and yet there are such joyful parts as well.

As it turned out, I was the only person in the museum for the entire time I was there. I could spend all the time I wanted with each photo, each sample of the written words and the recordings of people speaking, the exquisitely taxidermied animals and birds, the people’s clothing, food, housing, many images of sacred Pahto (Mt. Adams). There were plenty of places to sit and listen to the recordings of birds and water; recordings that I didn’t notice at first but that played quietly throughout the exhibit. I sat at the entrance to one of the pit houses for a long time, listening.

A Yakama woman, photo 1899.

Being allowed to see so much of the Yakama people’s history meant a great deal to me. The museum does not allow photography inside; the photos in this blog post were taken off the internet. But many of the things I saw in the museum will remain in my head and in my heart. I have a great deal to learn yet in life … the Yakama people have so much to teach us.

In the gift shop of the museum, I found and purchased a 2-CD set of a Yakama woman story-teller relating a few of the Yakama legends first in the English language, then in the Yakama language. Here are two short snippets that tell the same story, just the very first few moments of the same story, the first in English, the second in Yakama. As you listen to the second link below and think about trying to learn that complicated language!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006XF9LNI/ref=pm_ws_tlw_trk4, then click on #4.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006XF9MQ4/ref=pm_ws_tlw_trk9, then click on #9.

Basically, so the story goes, chipmunk didn’t do what his grandmother told him to do. He got distracted while playing and got lost too far from home. Witch woman ALMOST grabbed him and ate him, but not quite, boy was it close! In her attempt to grab him, she left scratches down his back that turned into stripes. The lesson is that you should listen to your grandmother and not go too far from home and you should watch out for danger. Or you may end up with stripes down your back like chipmunk still has today.

More information about all of these things and more can be found online on the website of the Yakama Nation as well as in a Wikipedia article.

People who are different than I am … who have a different background or different life experiences … who know things I don’t know, or just see things differently … are so interesting and have so much to teach. I’m so blessed.

Tomorrow? Just a country drive to see some pretty birds. 🙂