YAKANAM
Yahkanam was an Upper Cowlitz Chief who showed much displeasure because of Chief Kishkok being willing to consider a treaty with the Whites, but he adhered to what Kishkok said.
OWHYE
Owhye was a Cowlitz delegate to the Chehalis River Treaty Council. He complained to Governor Stevens that the King George’s men (the English) did not treat them well; paying them very poorly for their labor, but the Americans had paid them well. They had never seen money, nor known its value until the Americans came. He wanted land in the same area as Kishkok because there was a fishery on it.
KWONESAPPA
Kwonesappa, a Cowlitz sub-chief, was a delegate to the Chehalis River Treaty Council. He told Governor Stevens that the Cowlitz at the Council were all of the same mind.
WYEENOO or WIENO
Wyeenoo was a sub-chief of the Cowlitz who attended the Chehalis River Treaty Council, but he did not speak at the council. He was from the Toledo area.
Edward S. Curtis gave us an interesting tale regarding Wyeenoo: “On rare occasions there was (intertribal) cooperation for the purpose of checking the warlike northern tribes … in organizing (one) ill-fated expedition, couriers were dispatched far and wide among the tribes, and there assembled warriors of numerous tribes under the leadership of Kitsap and several other chiefs, including Cowlitz under Wieno. The warriors of the inland tribes: Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Klickitat (Taidnapam) were furnished canoes by the Nisqualli and the Puyallup.” In the course of the ensuing battle, “Wieno, the Cowlitz Chief, leaped up in his canoe, waved his arms, and called on his companions to show their ‘fighting medicine’ … The canoes of the allies moved forward … the chief however leaped into the water and swam unharmed to the enemies.”
ANTOINE STOKUM
Antoine (also Atwin), another son of Chief Scanewa, and brother of Tyee Dick Scanewa, eventually became chief of the Cowlitz, and was acknowledged as chief of the Cowlitz by R. H. Milroy, Superintendent of Indian affairs, Washington Territory, in 1878. Milroy issued a proclamation that Antoine Stokum was head chief of the Cowlitz Tribe.
Antoine’s sister was Kitty Killatish-Clover, Simon Plamondon’s third wife. Evelyn Byrnes remembered Kitty’s sisters stopping in at Evelyn’s home on their way to the Olequah tribal meetings. (Evelyn was known by many of the Cowlitz living today.) Evelyn’s home was north of Castle Rock on the Cowlitz and Lewis County line. It was a French community.
In 1908, Antoine, along with his nephew Simon Plamondon Jr., confronted the Department of the Interior regarding the usurpation of the Cowlitz territory without first clearing title. This action precipitated a long series of legislative attempts before Congress because the legislature had to grant permission to an Indian tribe to file suit in the Court of claims.
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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.
