PSU Magazine Spring 2005

ultnomah M~th By Melissa Steineger Thal would be MulLnomah. Balch, born in 1861, grew up along the Willamette and Columbia rivers listening Lo the Nalive Americans and their accounts of Lhe days before while men arrived. He, too, heard stories of Chief MulLnomah and ficLionalized Lhe stories in his novel, Biidgc of the Gods: A Romance of Indian Oregon. Chief Multnomah's headquaners were at Sauvie Island , a sLraLegic posi– tion of power al the confluence of Lwo main transponaLion romes. As late as 1854, some Willamettes sLill lived on Lhe island. W illiam Tappan, Lhe WashingLOn Ter– ritory's southern Indian district sub– agent at the time, wroLe, "Among Lhem are two or three of the once original occupants of the soil, represenLatives of Lhe once bold and numerous Lribe called Lhe 'wa rriors' nation' (whose) head quarters were where the LOwn of St. Helens now is and who there estab– lished a son of Custom House, leveeing and collecting taxes of all who passed whether white or Indian. But four or five of that great tribe are sLill alive." Another of Lhose who listened Lo Lhe stories about Chief Multnomah was Dr. Elijah White, Oregon's first federal agent of Indian affairs. White later wrote about the stories he had heard in the 1850s. "It seems the country about the (WillameLte) falls was once inhabited by a tribe, at the head of which was a chief, whose standing was similar Lo that of dictaLOr," wroLc While. "He was, in facL , Lheir idol; and to him were ren– dered honors as were never before granted a single chiefLain in the western world. When he aLtended council, he was borne Lhither upon a mat liuer, on the shoulders of eight men. lt is said Lo be about 70 years since this chief expired, and he is still in tradition remembered and deeply mourned by the scattered remnant of his tribe." The eruption of Mt. Hood in the 1780s may have led to the decline of Chief Multnomah and the Willamettes, concludes Fulton after reading Indian accounts. The mountain's eruption may have destroyed the Bridge of the God, a land bridge LhaL some think once crossed the Columbia River, and that Indians believe was the Willamettes's spirit power. When the expedition of English Captain George Vancouver reached the area in 1792, its members heard noth– ing about a Chief Multnomah. How– ever, hisLOrians have found that early wrillen accounts of the Northwest missed other important people and places. ln 1805 Lewis and Clark described a village of Native Americans known as "mulknomahs" encamped on Sauvie Island, and they originally called the Willamelle River the Mulknoma. Mult– nomah County takes its designation from these Native American words. M ultnomah's story might have ended long ago, except for the Indian people who knew it and the setLler children who later wrote it down. Following publication in 1890, Balch's Biidge of the Gods became a bestseller in Portland and raised white awareness of Chief Multnomah, at least temporarily. Balch, as was the style of his day, romanticized Multnomah as a "noble savage," writing that, "His dark, grandly impassive face, with its impos– ing regularity of feature, showed a pen– etration Lhat read everything, a reserve that revealed nothing, a dominating power that gave strength and com– mand to every line. " Based on the book's popularity and the belated interest of white reformers in Indian people, sculptor Hermon A. MacNeil in 1904 created The Coming of the White Man, a bronze statute of two Indians, the older of whom is identified as Chief Multnomah, now in Washington Park. MacNeil later pro– duced statuettes of Chief Multnomah in the noble savage style. But despite these tangible legacies, over time memories faded. hief Multnomah needs recognition, says Fulton, lo honor a Native king of Portland and the Indian heritage of the city. Portland began as an Indian place, and Indian people, both past and pre– sent, have contributed to its develop– ment. By relying on lndian oral histories and wriuen records, Fulton has written a paper hoping to expand awareness of Chief Multnomah. An early draft has a list of footnotes almost as long as the paper. Fulton is sensitive to being an out– sider both to historians-since her area of expertise is not Native American history-and, more imponantly to Native Americans-since she is "only a sixteemh Choctaw." "I don 't feel that what I'm saying is more important than what anyone else says," Fulton explains, "but l have the luxury LO do the research, and so I'll toss what I have into the pile. " And she's convinced the effort is important. "You live in a county named Mult– nomah," she says. "You've heard there may have been a tribe named Mult– nomah. We're using this identity. We've appropriated and capitalized on Chief Multnomah, and we don't even believe in him? " □ SPRING 2005 PSU MAGAZlNE 17