Native History of the Trout Lake Valley
By Cheryl Mack, Trout Lake Archeologist & Historian
“This area Trout Lake is really important to the Indians . . . I come here every year in the month of July and camp . . . From the time of creation this area had always been important to the Native Americans, to this day. When the Creator gave this earth the strength, and the lakes and the creeks were made – the word was that they would never go dry. And he named this land Shaxshax-nmi.”
The Trout Lake valley was a summer home for Indian people for thousands of years. Families camped here on their way to the huckleberry fields, and spent time fishing for trout, hunting, collecting cedar bark, and gathering tule reeds that grew in the lake. The tules were woven into mats used to dry huckleberries. These people were the ancestors of the present-day Yakama and Klickitat, as well as the Wasco/Wishram and Cascade people. Their descendants still come through the valley each summer on their way to the berry fields.
Indian people traveled to the Trout Lake valley on well-established trails. These trails not only accessed camas and berry fields, but also connected with trails in all directions across the forest. Trout Lake and Glenwood were once situated along a major east-west travel route, connecting the area around Fort Vancouver east to the Yakima Valley and The Dalles. The high country around Trout Lake offered a variety of important resources for native people, including fruits, nuts, and game animals, as well as plants used in basketry, and plants used for medicines.
The Yakama name for Trout Lake is Shaxshax-nmi, which means “place of the kingfisher.” The call of this bird can still be heard as it flies along Trout Lake Creek, searching for fish. The Yakama name for the area surrounding Trout Lake is Lakas-scon-nee, which translates as “Mouse Land.” This name derives from a legend describing how the many lava tubes in the area were created. When Captain George McClellan followed Indian trails to the Trout lake valley in 1853, searching for a route for a transcontinental railroad, members of his survey party recorded the Chinook Jargon form of this name – Hool-hool-pam. Various members of the McClellan expedition recorded stories told them by their Indian guides describing how the many caves in the area were created during the Myth Age by the efforts of Grizzly Bear and Mouse. These legends tell of how Mouse Woman created the lava tubes when she tunneled underground to escape the wrath of Grizzly Woman.
“The Indians have various traditions about their origins . . . One is that . . . there once lived on the Columbia a very strong man and wife [Grizzly Bears]. The man finally fell in love with another woman [called Mouse] and with her ran away to this region and lived with her in a hole in the ground. The wife found out their retreat and pursued them. They made this subterranean passage in their flight…”
“The mouse story appears to be interwoven with the Klickitat mythology, for besides the name of this place, Hool-hool-se (from hool-hool, a mouse) one of the names of their country is Hool-hool-pam, or the mouse-land.”
Huckleberries were one of the most important foods that Indian people collected while in the mountains. Indians maintained the high elevation huckleberry fields through the use of low-intensity fire. These once extensive huckleberry fields attracted Indians from a wide area, and places like the Indian Race Track served as a major summer gathering place for local tribes. Huckleberries were dried for long term storage by spreading them on a tule mat in front of a smoldering log and stirring them with a paddle until dried. These dried berries served as an important winter food supply.
Early settlers in the Trout Lake valley recalled that in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Indians camped all along the banks of Trout Lake Creek during the summer, and that many of the settlers happily traded them carrots for huckleberries!
