The Mountain that was God | Page 9

Tahoma
Glacier, flowing out of the huge cleft in the west side, between North
and South Peaks. A great rock wedge splits the glacier, turning part of
the ice stream northward into the Puyallup, while the other part, on the
right pours down to join South Tahoma Glacier. Note how the
promontory of rock in the foreground has been rounded and polished
by the ice. Compare this view with pages 32 and 37.]
[Illustration {p.034}: Snow Lake in Indian Henry's, surrounded by
Alpine firs, which grow close to the snow line. Elevation about 6,000
feet.]
The hero of the Hiaqua Myth is the Indian {p.035} Rip Van Winkle.[2]
He dwelt at the foot of Tacoma, and, like Irving's worthy, he was a
mighty hunter and fisherman. He knew the secret pools where fish
could always be found, and the dark places in the forest, where the elk
hid when snows were deepest. But for these things Miser cared not. His
lust was all for hiaqua, the Indian shell money.
[Footnote 2: This legend is well told in "Myths and Legends of the
Pacific Northwest," a delightful book by Katharine B. Judson of the
Seattle Public Library (Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co.). See also Prof.
W. D. Lyman's papers in "Mazama" Vol. 2, and "The Mountaineer,"
Vol. 2; and Winthrop's "Canoe and Saddle."]
[Illustration: A fair Mountaineer at the timber line. Note her equipment,
including shoe calks.]
Now, Miser's totem was Moosmoos, the elk divinity. So Miser tried,

even while hunting the elk, to talk with them, in order to learn where
hiaqua might be found. One night Moosmoos persuaded him that on
top of the Mountain he would find great store of it. Making him two
elk-horn picks, and filling his ikta with dried salmon and kinnikinnick,
he climbed in two nights and a day to the summit. Here he found three
big rocks, one like a camas root, one like a salmon's head, the third like
his friendly Moosmoos. Miser saw that Moosmoos had told him truly.
[Illustration {p.036}: View of Indian Henry's Hunting Ground from a
point on South Tahoma Glacier, looking across to Copper and Iron
Mountains, with Mt. St. Helens above the clouds far beyond. This
famous upland plateau or "park" gets its name from the fact that it was,
years ago, the favorite haunt of a celebrated Indian hunter.]
[Illustration {p.037}: Southwest side of the Mountain as seen from
Indian Henry's, showing North and South Tahoma Glaciers meeting in
foreground, and Kautz Glacier on extreme right.]
After long digging, Miser overturned the rock that was like the elk's
head. Beneath lay a vast quantity of hiaqua. This he strung on elk's
sinews--enough of it to make him the richest of men. Then he hurried
to depart. But he left no thank-offering to the tanahnawas powers.
Thereupon the whole earth shook with a mighty convulsion, and the
mountain shot forth terrible fires, which melted the snows and poured
floods down the slopes, where they were turned to ice again by the
breath of the storm-god. And above the roar of torrents and the crash of
thunder, {p.038} Miser heard the voices of all the tamahnawas, hissing:
"Hiaqua! Hiaqua! Ha, ha, Hiaqua!"
[Illustration: Climbing Pinnacle Peak, in the Tatoosh. Elevation 6,500
feet. The route leads up from Paradise Valley, over the steep snow field
shown in the lower view, and thence by a difficult trail to the summit.]
Panic-stricken at the results of his greed, Miser threw down his load of
treasure to propitiate the angry tamahnawas. But the storm-god hurled
him down the mountain side. Miser fell into a deep sleep. Many, many
snows after, he awoke to find himself far from the summit, in a
pleasant country of beautiful meadows carpeted with flowers,

abounding in camas roots, and musical with the song of birds. He had
grown very old, with white hair falling to his shoulders. His ikta was
empty, save for a few dried leaves. Recognizing the scene about him as
Saghalie Illahe, he sought his old tent. It was where he had left it. There,
too, was his klootchman, or wife, grown old, like himself. Thirty snows,
she said, she had awaited his return. Back they went to their {p.039}
home on the bank of the Cowlitz, where he became a famous
tamahnawas man, and spent the rest of his days in honor, for his
tribesmen recognized that the aged Indian's heart had been marvelously
softened and his mind enriched by his experience upon the peak. He
had lost his love for hiaqua.
[Illustration: A silhouette on Pinnacle Peak, with Paradise Valley and
the Nisqually Glacier below.]
Among the familiar myths of the Mountain was one of a great flood,
not unlike that of Noah. I quote Miss Judson's version:
WHY THERE ARE NO