Roy I. Rochon Wilson Commentary: Tribal Leaders – Part 5: Tyee, Karke & Callipicus, Umtux, Kishkok

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TYEE DICK

Tyee Dick (Richard) Sennawah, the oldest son of Scanewa, was a powerful Cowlitz Chief.  He was recognized as chief of the Cowlitz, Nisqually, and Puyallup tribes.  At this point in history, the Cowlitz ruled from Columbia River to the Puget Sound.  He married a Nisqually woman and moved north to the Puget Sound area.  He was buried on the Puyallup Reservation.

His gravestone marker reads:

Richard Sinnaywah

Tyee Dick

1814 -1904

Chief of three tribes:

Cowlitz, Squally, Puyallup

 

KARKE AND CALLIPICUS

Karke and Callipicus were headmen of the Upper Cowlitz.  They were reported to have been at Fort Nisqually in 1833.  These two Cowlitz leaders led a party of armed horsemen to meet with Dr. Tolmie at the fort.  The purpose of the trip was not disclosed; however, during this period, the Hudson’s Bay Company maintained two agricultural farms of substantial size, one at Fort Nisqually and the other at Cowlitz Landing.  They were probably on a liaison mission for the company farms.  Little more is known of Karke and Callipicus.

 

UMTUX

Chief Umtux was contemporary with Chief Kishkok, and lived on the Lewis River.  He was Chief of the Lewis River Cowlitz Band, while Kishkok was Chief of the Lower Cowlitz River Band.  Umtux was outspoken and antagonistic to encroachment of white settlers into his area.  Umtux was ambushed and assassinated by two militia privates in November 1855 while he was searching for his horse at the Fort Vancouver Reserve.  However, at the time, the affair was blamed on Yakama scouts.  Documentation that surfaced fifty years later asserted that the murder was committed by two militiamen of the military detail sent out to escort the chief back to the reservation.  The documentation, an affidavit from one of the two soldiers assigned to the detail, states that Umtux had agreed to return and was gathering his horses when he was gunned down alone.  At the time, no one seemed to have questioned the military version of the slaying, leaving the blame on Yakama scouts.  This incident incensed the Cowlitz against the Yakamas, who were the protagonists within the developing hostilities.  The Cowlitz sided against the Yakamas, forming the better part of two companies of the Indian auxiliary forces.  Umtux was buried at the mouth of the Toutle River.  During the ceremony two $50 dollar slugs were placed in his mouth.



Chief Umtux had six sons: Shelip, Yakena, Tomma, Atwine, Boss, and Charley.

 

KISHKOK – KISCOX

Kishkok, head chief of the Cowlitz, represented the tribe at the Chehalis River Treaty Council in 1855.  One hundred and forty Cowlitz Indians attended this Treaty Council.  His primary area of influence was the Toledo area.

Kishkok told Governor Stevens that when the Hudson’s Bay people (the French) came among them they did not treat the Cowlitz well.  He was referring to the skirmishes they had with the French fur trappers.  But they liked the Bostons (Americans) and wanted them to settle in their country.  He wanted to reserve a portion of land crossing the Cowlitz River near the Puget Sound’s farm.

Kishkok befriended the White settlers during the territorial Indian war of 1855-1856.  He voluntarily restrained the Cowlitz under his authority to the vicinity of Plamondon’s reservation near Cowlitz Landing.  At that time, Simon Plamondon has been appointed local Indian Agent for the Cowlitz Indians by Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens, and he was directed to establish a reservation for the Cowlitz Indians by acting Governor Mason.  It appears in the documented literature of the period that Plamondon enjoyed the cooperation of Chief Kishkok.

The artist Paul Kane visited the Cowlitz eight years before the Chehalis River Treaty Council and made a portrait sketch of Chief Kishkok which is on display at the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas.  It was at this visit to the Cowlitz that Paul Kane also painted a portrait of Caw-wacham with her baby on the cradleboard, while visiting in the lodge of Chief Kishkok.  Caw-wacham was of the upper-class and had a flathead.  The portrait showed how she used the cradleboard to flatten the head of her baby.

From this event Paul Kane journeyed to Olympia where he hired an Indian canoe to take him to Vancouver Island.  He returned to the Cowlitz country after being in Victoria about a month, during which time Caw-wacham died.  Her family believed that her death was caused by Paul Kane capturing her spirit on the painted canvas.  They vowed to get their revenge with his death upon his return, but a friend saw him returning before the vengeful did and gave him a canoe telling him to get to Fort Vancouver as quickly as he could.

 

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Next time: Yahkanam, Owhye, Kwonesappa, Wyeenoo or Wieno

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Roy I. Rochon Wilson was an elected leader of the Cowlitz Tribe for three decades and is the author of more than 30 books, including several histories of the Cowlitz Tribe. He is a retired ordained Methodist minister and current spiritual leader of the tribe. Wilson lives near Winlock.