Chelan (people)
The Chelan (gespr. Sha-lan) than among the Native Americans called Indians in the State of Washington . They belong to the inland Salish group and speak the Wenatchee dialect.
Originally they lived east of the Cascade Range, the mountain range that separates the rainy west and the dry east of Washington from each other.
history
At the beginning of the 19th century, the fur trader Alexander Ross mentioned the Tsill-anes , which he counted as part of the Oakinacken nation . They traded with the coastal Salish , but first had to cross the long Lake Chehalis and then, after crossing the Cascade Range, to reach a dangerous path along the Skagit River that led to the Puget Sound . Oral tradition, however, also knows of less peaceful contacts.
On November 14, 1872, a severe earthquake struck and the first Catholic missionaries used the resulting fears to advance their work. The Chelan chief Nmosize (Innomoseecha Bill) resisted and burned the mission station of the Jesuit Alexander Diomedi. However, a little later the Chelan built a Catholic church called Old Wapato Church on the lake, near today's Manson .
In 1880 the American Army established a post called Camp Chelan on Lower Chelan Lake . It served to monitor the reserve , which extends north to the Canadian border . As part of the contract with Chief Moses , some Chelan also took up residence at the lake. But 40 to 50 men, led by Long Jim, refused, and arguments broke out, with three of his men being detained in the reservation's prison. Long Jim took the fight to the courts, but lost there.
The Chelan belong to one of the tribes that went up in the Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation .
See also
literature
- Robert H. Ruby / John A. Brown, A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest , University of Oklahoma Press 1992, pp. 17f.
Remarks
- ↑ A picture of this church can be found here ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . The recording dates from around 1912.
