Cowlitz Tribe members prepare for a weeklong canoe trip through ancient waters
Sunday, May 7, 2006 12:07 AM PDT
By Sally Ousley
Printable version
E-mail this articleLAKE MAYFIELD -- The craft is modern, but the traditions are old.
At Ike Kinswa State Park on Saturday, members of the Cowlitz Tribe launched a fiberglass replica of the ocean-going Indian canoes of the past.
"Salmon Dancer," as the 31-foot canoe is christened, took to the placid waters behind Mayfield Dam on the upper Cowlitz River.
Tribal members and their friends were practicing a second time for a 160-mile journey some of them will make this summer from Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula, through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
They will be participating in the 2006 Tribal Canoe Paddle Journey. According to the event Web site, "the canoe journey experience is a mixture: excitement to be there, exhilaration to be on the water communing with nature, spiritual renewal, tests of endurance, hard work ... "
"We need to unite with our ancestors in the old ways and to travel with our sister tribes to celebrate with them," Willie Koch, Cowlitz Tribe member from Salkum and canoe captain, said of the effort.
He said the canoe journey is a way for most tribal members who have never had a chance to take part in Cowlitz traditions.
"To most it's a new thing," said Koch, 47. "Now they will be able to realize the importance of what our ancestors did on a daily basis. This ties us to the ways of our past. And it ties the elders to the young people."
Before taking on the open sea, tribal members are practicing on calm water -- lest they be up the creek without a paddle once they're out in the open sea.
On a deeper level, though, it was important to get the canoe in waters of the tribe's aboriginal homeland in Lewis County.
"We are in Cowlitz waters," Koch said. "This is our Motherland."
Tribal Journeys began with Paddle to Seattle in 1989 and has become an annual event. More than 80 canoes are participating this year, including teams from Hawaii and New Zealand, but this is the first time for the Cowlitz.
"Salmon Dancer" can handle up to 13 paddlers. Koch said he hopes to have two sets of crews by the time of the journey, and both men and women will participate.
The white and tan canoe is decorated with salmon and otters on each side and eagles on the back. An eagle feather flies on the front to guard passengers from harm.
The canoe is about 4 feet wide and is designed for rough water: it has a stabilizer that will prevent capsizing.
A chief from the Hoh tribe will serve as honorary skipper, Koch said. Koch said he participated in a canoe journey for the Hoh Indian Tribe in 2002. Since then, his vision has been for the Cowlitz to have their own canoe journey.
Koch said although tribal officials have not sponsored the canoe's journey, he's still hopeful they will.
This spring, before the tribe launched its canoe for the first time, they blessed it by wiping it down with cedar boughs and sage to cleanse past bad experiences.
To Koch, this is a real personal journey because he suffers from multiple sclerosis first diagnosed six years ago.
"I don't know how many journeys I have left," he said. "This is real important to me."
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