The Building of an Empire: The Inland Northwest and its Beginnings

Each and every town, village, city and place has a history, thus making it a local history.  But none is more important than those in Eastern Washington as the history of the Pacific Northwest and the two largest cities in Washington State, Spokane and Seattle. 

In Stratton’s Spokane and the Inland Empire: An Interior Pacific Northwest Anthology, our authors aim at unfolding the region’s various attributes: from Meinig’s descriptions of historical geographic systems and establishing a sense of place, Rice’s brief description of the Native American dwellings of the Southern Plateau, and Trafzer’s interpreting the past of the Palouse Indians.

If my critical and analytical capabilities do not fail me, it is evident that throughout my historical secondary studies Stratton is justified in stating, “It is said that every generation reinterprets history to suit itself (7)”, and as my speculation insofar reaches, much of what I had read lends little to concepts of American imperialism, especially in the application of the Inland Northwest Indian people, possibly based solely out of shame.  Sure, it has been relayed to me time and time again of the immoral slaughter and displacement of native people, but none has ever framed it in the context of heavy-duty imperialism, and the implications these actions have bestowed upon today's tribes, and the ideas that beg to question, what have we learned from these facets of history?  Has anything changed in American policies?  What are we doing to right the wrong?  

In Thrush’s Native Seattle, Histories from the Crossing-Over Place, we learn serendipitously, at least in my case, that Seattle’s core, their whole existence, is based around Native peoples, even down to the name of the city-Seeathl- the largest city in America named after a Native Indian.  It is evident that Seattle is smitten with its Native American roots, advertising its Native heritage through extensively occurring symbols, names and events within the city.   Ghost stories prevail in Seattle like many other large cities, however none like Seattle with the majority of those stories involving Native Americans.  In fact, Seeathl eerily prophesied that his city would be haunted by the natives who “have perished from the earth (3)” during treaty talks when he learned of his peoples’ inescapable dispossession of their native lands.  

Chief Seeathl in front of the Seattle Space Needle; Photo Courtesy of: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/A-short-trek-leads-to-a-rich-tribal-legacy-1079492.php

But Thrush explains that ghost stories have a way of telling more about the people telling them than they do of the story itself.  The ghost stories of Seattle indeed frame the Natives as less than human, “they are instead shades of the past, linked almost mystically to a lost nature (9).”  The successful contributing Native people are far being recognized as Natives in Seattle today; instead, it is the homeless Natives that are the epitome of Native-ness, framing the idea of what it means to be a Native Indian for many Seattlites.  This perception implants the idea that Native people are less than human in Seattle, and from this defines what kind of city Seattle is, and ends up asking, who belongs where (10)?        

In Kyvig and Marty’s Nearby History, Exploring the Past Around You, we explore concepts of storytelling done by historians and the traces left from the past in which these stories are concentrated around.  Historians tell these stories after careful and often tedious research is prepared to make sure the stories are told accurately, often left up for debate and speculation.  Historians must first strive to be aware of the purpose and meaning of their stories, sometime seeking to answer a question they pose.  Historians must find the traces left from people and events, and formulate their story from these experiences; painstakingly sorting through them, establishing their authenticity, credibility and importance (46).  Our authors go on to emphasis the importance of the array of documents historians use to communicate their story and in hopes of answering their own questions.  It is a difficult process for historians to pose the past for the present, and in many cases is contradicted by other historians.  It is truly up to the historian to use objective and thorough research when solving their inquiry, mostly through the means of any and all documents related to their quest, and in many cases will never be fully complete.