The four divisions, or bands, of the Cowlitz Tribe were the consequence of geographic, historical and linguistic factors.
The study of the linguistic factors is quite interesting because the Cowlitz Tribe was unusual, although not unique, in having divisions differing in language: Salishan and Sahaptin. The Cowlitz was the southernmost of the Salish speaking tribes living in Western Washington and British Columbia.
According to Horatio Hale, the Nisqually, Chehalis, Cowlitz and Tillamook’s differed “considerably in dialect.” Paul Kane said that “the Cowlitz have also their separate speech.” George Simpson said: “Every river along the coast is inhabited by a different tribe speaking a different language or a different dialect.”
Each tribe spoke its own dialect, and the linguists say that these dialects were broken down into two series: the “K” dialect series and the “C” series. The northern and southern Salish speaking tribes spoke dialects of the “C” series, while the central tribes spoke dialect of the “K” series.
The Cowlitz was the only tribe to speak dialects of both series.
The Upper Cowlitz and the Lewis River Cowlitz spoke a dialect of the “K” series, while the Lower Cowlitz and the Kwalhiokwa Cowlitz spoke a dialect of the “C” series.
Since each of the tribes did not understand the dialect of their neighboring tribe, they communicated with each other in the common inter-tribal trade language — the Chinook Jargon.
The Upper Cowlitz had a common border with the Yakama and the Sahaptin speaking bands of the Yakama and the Klickitat. The Cowlitz-Yakama Trail allowed many Upper Cowlitz to venture over the cascade Divide into Sahaptin speaking country, and over the centuries many of these Upper Cowlitz men brought back Sahaptin speaking wives; consequently, during this time the Taidnapam dialect of the Sahaptin became a common language of the Upper Cowlitz.
The Klickitats were the traveling merchant salesmen who not only traveled far to the east, but also traveled west through the Lewis River country.
Over time, many of them remained in Cowlitz country and inter-married with the Lewis River Cowlitz. The Upper Cowlitz and the Lewis River Cowlitz were often identified by their Taidnapam dialect name.
By the time the white men arrived on the scene, the Cowlitz were multi-lingual speaking two different dialects of the Salish, the Taidnapam dialect of the Sahaptin, and the intertribal trade language — the Chinook Jargon. With the coming of the white man they found it necessary to also learn to speak English and French. Why were they considered by many to be dumb, ignorant savages?
As late as 1950, anthropologists still encountered enclaves of Cowlitz with whom interpreters were required because they had little or no use for the English language.
We have 26 letters in our English alphabet, but there are 46 letters in the Lower Cowlitz alphabet. The Salish language has many deep guttural sounds that were almost impossible for the white man to utter.
Some of the Upper Cowlitz place names are still with us such as “Cispus,” the name of a mythological warrior.
Skyo Mountain, near Packwood was to the Upper Cowlitz “tiska’ya,” meaning “skunk.”
Skookumchuck comes from a combination of two words in the intertribal trade language: “skookum” meaning “powerful,” and “chuck” meaning water.
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Next week: The tools used by the Cowlitz Indian tribe.
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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.
