“Mouth of the Neacoxie”
Courtesy of Dick Basch
Portion of 1841 Wilkes map of Columbia, showing Mt. Coffin.
Mount Coffin Fire, 1841
"In the evening of the next day, we reached Mount Coffin, at
the mouth of the Cowlitz. This mount afforded a favourable point for
astronomical observations, being seven hundred and ten feet high, and
quite isolated. The canoes used by the Indians as coffins are seen
upon it in every direction, in all stages of decay. They are supported
between trees, at the height of four or five feet above the ground,
and about them are hung the utensils that had belonged to the deceased,
or that had been offered as tokens of respect.
"I remained the whole day on the top of this mount, and obtained
a full set of observations; the weather being remarkably clear and
beautiful. Here my boat's crew carelessly omitted to extinguish the
fire they had used for cooking our dinner, and as we were pulling off
to the brig, I regretted to see that the fire had spread, and was enveloping
the whole area of the mount; but there was no help for it. The fire
continued to rage throughout the night, until all was burnt. I took
the earliest opportunity of explaining to the Indians who were in the
neighbourhood, that the fire was accidental; and, after receiving a
few small presents, they appeared satisfied that it was so. But a few
years earlier, the consequence of such carelessness would have been
a hostile attack, that might have involved us in difficulty of no ordinary
kind. We had a minor punishment to undergo, for the smoke was so great
that it enveloped all the signals toward the mouth of the river, and
made it necessary for me to anchor within sight of Mount Coffin till
the next morning" (Wilkes: 1845).
Method of Burial,
sketch by James g. Swan (Swan:1857).
Courtesy of The University of Montana, K. Ross Toole Archives, Special
|Fort Clatsop > Culture > Disease and Burial
“The climate throughout Oregon is thought to be salubrious for
the white race; and was considered so by the Indians, prior to the
year 1830, when the ague and fever, or any disease resembling it, was
known to exist. The Indians fully believe, to this day, that Captain
Dominis introduced the disease in 1830. Since that time, it has committed
frightful ravages among them; not so much, perhaps, from the violence
of the disease itself, as the manner in which they treat it. It was
not until quite lately that they were willing to be treated after our
and they still in many cases prefer the incantations and practices
of the medicine-man.”
"I satisfied myself that the accounts given of the depopulation
of this country are not exaggerated; for places were pointed out to me
where dwelt whole tribes, that have been entirely swept off; and, during
the time of the greatest mortality, the shores of the river were strewed
with the dead and dying. This disease occurs, it is said, semi-annually,
and in the case of foreigners, it is more mild at each succeeding attack" (Wilkes:
Another, more detailed, account of the introduction of the “Cold
Sick” to the people is reported by Frost:
“The epidemic ague…which has swept away great numbers of
the natives, and proved an annual scourge to the white man, commenced,
according to the best authorities, in 1830. Before that time it had never
been known in the country, not even a single case. The Indians account
for the origin of this scourge in the following manner. The writer will
state it just as he received it from one of them. At the time of its
commencement there was an American vessel in the river, commended by
Captain Domanis, for the purpose of trading for furs. This, of course,
brought on a competition between Domanis and the Hudson’s Bay Company;
and as the captain of the vessel paid a high price for furs, the Indians
professed to bring him all the beaver &c. But as the captain gave
more for small skins than the company, they brought him all the small
ones, and took all the large ones to the company. But, say they, when
Captain Domanis became acquainted with this fact, he was “hias
silix,” that is, great angry; and that he might be revenged on
them for deceiving him thus, he hung up some bad sail to a tree, and
then opened, or uncorked, a small vial, and let out the ague and fever
upon them, which has carried off thousands, and continues its ravages
still” (Lee & Frost 1844:108).
Dunn’s description of the tragedy of the ague
Disease and conflict with settlers comes first to the Clatsops, where
whites preferred to settle. Settlement promoter Hall Jackson Kelley,
visiting the mouth of the Columbia in 1834, sees “…little
but darkness and blackness and desolation; heard but little more than
the sighs and cries of the misery in the perishing remanants of the Clotsop
and Chenook tribes” (Peterson 1991:18) [Cited from Powell, Fred
Wilbur, ed., Hall J. Kelley on Oregon (Princeton University Press, 1932:326)]
Kelly believes that the “Cold Sick” is so devastating to
the Clatsops that they virtually disappear, leaving their remnants to
blend with neighboring bands. However, one small band led by Kotata,
remains in a fortified village near Point Adams (Ruby & Brown 1976:196).
Disease takes Comcomly and many members of his family, and impacts most
of the Chinooks who have contact with traders. From an estimate of 720
Chinooks in the mid 1820s, by 1840, after a decade of disease, only 280,
including slaves, remain (Ruby & Brown 1976:194). By 1853, the number
has dropped to around 100 individuals (Swan 1969: , Tappan, cited in
Beckham…) Many Chinooks died around Willapa Bay, leaving villages
open for settlement by Chehalis bands.
Dr. Meredith Gairdner robs Comcomly’s grave and steals his head
and other body parts “for scientific reasons”. The Chinook
are not surprised when the doctor soon thereafter dies of tuberculosis.
They believe the spirit world has evened the score. (Trafzer 1990:78)
The British finally return the skull to the Chinook people for reburial,
For decades the Chinook and Clatsop people are under a siege of disease.
In January of 1853, Swan recounts that “a party of Indians from
Chenook arrived, consisting of old Carcumcum (sister of the celebrated
Comcomly), and her son Ellewa, the present chief of the Chenooks, with
his wife and two or three slaves. They made a camp on the beach near
the house, where they lived under a little old tent” (Swan 1969:55).
They stayed several days. Swan reports on what transpires:
“As it commenced to rain, they were very miserable, and Ellewa
requested Russell to allow the squaw [his wife, Winchestoh], to lie down
by the fire in the house, which he did, and the same day Ellewa, with
old Carcumcum, returned to Chenook. At supper-time I gave the squaw some
tea and toast, and remarked that her face and neck were covered with
little spots like flea-bites”, and by that night she was dead
Smallpox had already been reported among the Clatsops and now it spread
among the Chinooks, as well. When old chief, Que-a-quim (who had been
living on the Palix) died, his brother brought Swan his belongings to
be buried with him. In contrast to the great material wealth of the chiefs
of just a few decades before, this leader is buried with “a few
shirts, a blanket or two, and some few trinkets” (Swan 1969:58).
Paul Kane, Canadian artist, arrived in Fort Vancouver December 8, 1846,
and remained in the region until the 25th of March, 1847. He wrote this
to accompany the above sketch:
Paul Kane sketch of "Burial place on the Cowlitz River" (Kane:
March 29th 
"We came to another Indian burial ground, which seemed to be highly decorated.
I wished my Indians to put ashore, but they would not do so. I was obliged therefore,
to put them out of the canoe on the opposite side of the river, and paddle the
canoe over by myself. I have no doubt that they would have opposed my doing so
had it not been for the name which I had already acquired amongst the Indians,
of being a great medicine-man, on account of the likenesses which I had taken.
My power of pourtraying the feature of individuals was attributed
entirely to supernatural agency, and I found that, in looking at my
pictures, they always covered their eyes with their hands and looked
through the fingers; this being also the invariable custom when looking
at a dead person.
On arriving at the place I found it lavishly decorated with numerous
articles, of supposed utility and ornament, for the convenience of
the defunct in the journey to the world of spirits. These articles
consisted of blankets, tin cups, pots, pans, kettles, plates, baskets,
horn bowls, and spoons, with shreds of cloth of various colours. One
canoe, which was decorated more highly than the rest, I examined particularly.
All the articles appended to it were rendered useless for this world
by either tearing, breaking, or boring holes in them, the Indians believing
that they would be made whole again by the Great Spirit.
On examining the interior of a canoe I found a great number of ioquas
and other shells, together with beads and rings: even the mouth of
the deceased was filled with these articles. The body itself was carefully
enveloped in numerous folds of matting made of rushes. At the bottom
of the canoe lay a bow and arrow, a paddle, a spear, and a kind of
pick, made of horn, for digging the camas roots; the top of the canoe
immediately over the body, had a covering of bark, and holes were bored
in the bottom to allow the water to run out. These canoes are always
placed on wooden supports, suspended in branches of trees, or placed
upon isolated rocks in the river, to keep them beyond the reach of
"During my stay the Indians watched me closely from the opposite
bank, and, on my return, they examined me as minutely as they well
could with their eyes to see that I had not brought anything away with
me. Had I been so imprudent as to have done so I should probably have
answered for the sacrilege with my life, death being the certain penalty
to the most trifling violation of the sanctity of the coffin canoe.
I endeavoured to discover who was buried in the richly decorated canoe,
but the only information I could get from them was that the deceased
was the daughter of a Chinook chief.
The Indians here have a superstitious dread of mentioning the name
of any person after death, nor will they tell you their own names,
which can only be found out from a third party. One of the men asked
me if my desire to know his name proceeded from a wish to steal it.
It is not an uncommon thing for a chief, when he wishes to pay you
a very high compliment, to give and call you by his own name, and adopt
some other for himself" (Kane: 1925).
Dunn wrote this account during the period when Fort George served as
the Hudson's Bay trading post with the Chinooks (1820-1848)
also wrote about the burial and disturbance of Chief Concomly
Edward Belcher's engraving of a Chinook burial canoe, 1839
University of Washington Libraries. Manuscripts, Special Collections, University
Archives Division. NA3888
Dick Basch discusses the burials of Clatsop-Nehalem people at the
estuary on the Neacoxie.
Background from Paul Kane sketch