|
|
either address
photographicimage.com or
guyswanson.com
will bring you to my home page.
|
Boy Howdy
What's new at Lake Billy Chinook
Life is getting back to normal here on Lake Billy Chinook as the Pandemic winds down people are returning to this Central Oregon playground. The lake has miles of shoreline but no beaches. In the mid seventies an experiment began when develper Doug Stills bought a few unused houseboates from Lake Shasta.
Now over one hundred ski boats, houseboats, patio boats, jet skies, fishing boats, and other watercraft are availalbe for rent, or you can bring your own and launch at the Crooked River Day Use area.
Since the Lake is spring fed from the Cascade mountains the water level stays constant thoughout the season.
|
Dispatches from the Dry Side Culture, Curiosity and Character
about the Oregon East of the Cascade Mountain Range Previous Dispatches can be |
|
|
So who was Billy Chinook?
William Parker was born in about 1826 and babtized at the Methodist Mission in The Dalles. A member of the Wasco tribe and orphaned at an early age he took on the Indian name Billy Chinook. From his uncle Billy learned the Indian ways, spending much of his childhood hunting and fishing along the Columbia River. He also spent time helping the Reverend Perkins at the mission. The River was the only home he had ever known but by the time he reached seventeen he yearned to learn some of the ways of the whites. That opportunity came up late in 1843 when Lieutenant John C Fremont and Kit Karson visited the Mission to lay in supplies for an expedition heading south through Central Oregon. In his journal Fremont described the village of The Dalles as ""two good-looking wooden dwelling-houses and a large schoolhouse, with stables, barn, garden and large cleared fields between there and the river's bank." Pastor Perkins knew of Billy's wanderlust and spoke on his behalf to Lt. Fremont. The Liutenant said he could not hire him but would take him along as his personal charge. Winter was approching when Fremont, Carson, Billy and twenty men left The Dalles and headed for the southern border of the Oregon Territory with 104 mules and horses and three months provisions. Many of the men were trappers and mountain men but some were botanists, mapmakers and men of science. The voyage was without incident as they made their way along the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. Rumors of an Indian troubes in the Blue Mountains led Fremont to stay west of the Deschutes and on December first they arrived at the canyon of the Metolius River. Looking for a break in the shear cliffs, they crossed the river near what is now Perry South Campground. The exact coordinates are not known because Femont was experiencing problems with his sextant, but descriptions in his journal could lead one to that conclusion. Following a well worn game trail they made their way down the ice covered rocks and outcroppings. One of the mules carrying a load of sugar stumbled in the water and they ended up with a cargo of molassas. The howitzer they brough twith them weighed over 200 pounds and the men had to dismantel it and lower it down the cliffs with ropes. After they forded the river they made camp for a couple of days at Fly Lake to get refreshed and dried out before heading out to the southern border. Young Billy Chinook put his hunting and fishinig skills to work and took on any task that was given to him. Billy made quite an impression on Lt. Fremont and his journal entries read like a dramatic fiction. He praised high worship on Billy and Kit Carson, something would bring fame to both men. Fremont wrote in his journal "He (Billy Chinook) accompanied me to Washington, and, after remaining several months at Columbia College, was sent by the Indian Department to Philadelphia, where, among other things, he learned to read and write well, and speak the English language with some fluency." Chinook accompanied Fremont and Carson on one more expedition before settling down in Southern California where he married, started a family, and raised cattle. Billy returned to his original home in The Dalles and was elected one of three chiefs of the Wasco Nation, representing the Dalles Wasco. He Joined the US Army for one year and served as Army scout. He and the other chiefs fought Chief Paulina and Billy was was the signtory to the treaty that established the Warm Springs Reservation. Billy Chinook died in 1890 and is buried at the Warm Springs Reservaion. Lake Billy Chinook was formed in 1964 with the construction of the Round Butte Dam and was named for this celebrated Native leader.
|