An Early Coastal Survey of the Quillehuyt River
James G. Swan documents his journey to the Quillayute River, describing the geography, the Indigenous stronghold at James Island, and the aftermath of the Southerner shipwreck.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On leaving the prairie, we retraced our steps over the same trail. We reached the brook where we left our boat and partook of a lunch of cold meat and hard bread. We started down the river—Wackamus steering and myself noting the course and sounding the depth. The water is so pure and transparent as to render the depth deceptive. Besides salmon, there is an abundance of smelts and torn cod. The Indians take the smelts by means of large hand-nets. The higher banks are covered with spruce and hemlock, and there are millions of feet of lumber in the drift trees at the mouth. We climbed to the summit of Alekistet (James's Island), a precipitous stronghold used by the Quillehuyt Indians. The remains of their habitations were visible, but hidden by gigantic nettles. I was at Quillehuyt when the steamer Southerner was wrecked; a small portion of the wreck still remains on the beach, and the Indians had a few copper bolts and forks they offered for sale. I think this location is the best I have seen on the coast for an Indian agency, far preferable to Quinault.
“To float this great tree and cast it high and dry on the beach, required a tremendous high tide or freshet.”
James G. Swan was a pivotal, if complex, chronicler of the Pacific Northwest. His description of James Island (Alekistet) highlights the deep, long-standing connection of the Quileute people to their traditional territory, a connection that remains central to their sovereignty and cultural resilience today.
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