NEWS

COMMEMORATION CELEBRATES A FORT AND A TRIBE

Heritage - Members of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes savor the limelight Friday, March 24, 2006

LORI TOBIAS

ASTORIA -- You can turn an eye in any direction on the north coast and spot a Clatsop: There's Clatsop County, Fort Clatsop, Clatsop Community College. But you never heard much about the native people behind the name.

Until now.

As about 250 people gathered Thursday in the rain and cold to commemorate the final days of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's stay in the Pacific Northwest, members of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes found a different reason to celebrate.

"This has been meaningful to our people because it has returned our tribe back into the light," said Steve Shane, vice chairman of the tribes. "People recognize we are still here. And we don't plan on going anywhere."

The events at Fort Clatsop marked the day 200 years ago when Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery turned over the fort to Clatsop Chief Coboway before beginning the journey home.

The gift may, tribal members say, sound generous -- until you know the rest of the story.

In 1806, as the corps members readied to leave, Lewis asked Chief Coboway for a dugout canoe. Canoes, however, have a special significance to the Clatsop people, tribal councilwoman Roberta Basch said. "It's not just a boat," she said. "It comes from the trees. It has a spirit. The canoe is our life."

Besides, all the corps had to offer in exchange for the canoe were fish hooks and peace medals. That wasn't particularly enticing, considering that even today, with power tools and modern transportation, the recent construction of a tribal canoe took four months.

Chief Coboway said no. And so the members of the corps stole one, according to historical accounts. Some say Lewis and Clark felt guilty and tried to ease their consciences with the gift of the fort.

But that was small consolation. "Part of the problem was that this was Clatsop land," said Diane Collier, chairwoman of the tribes. "The corps built a structure on our land, then gave it to the people they took the land from."

And then there was the structure of the fort itself. Its roofs slanted in toward the parade ground, which meant water would fall and puddle there. And while the Clatsop lived in longhouses, where everyone shared the same room and only one fire was necessary, Fort Clatsop was divided into many rooms.

The longhouses also were built mostly underground, giving them insulation and a certain measure of protection from enemies. The fort was aboveground, fully exposed to both the elements and any unwelcome visitors.

Quite simply, "It didn't fit the lifestyle of our people," Basch said.

Nonetheless, 200 years later, as dignitaries made speeches and visitors celebrated the new replica of Fort Clatsop -- built to replace the one that burned in an accidental fire last October -- the members of the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes joined in and took pleasure in the knowledge that people again know Clatsop as more than a mere place name.

"The Clatsop people have been shoved aside and ignored, and yet the spirit of the people has not died," Basch said. "The honor isn't dead. The appreciation for nature isn't dead. If people know we are here and we want to share, we feel better as a tribe."

Lori Tobias: 541-265-9394; loritobias@aol.com