“Soon after James Cook’s visit to Vancouver Island in 1778, non-Natives began fur trading in the Northwest. Trade ships, after stopping in Hawaii, sailed to Vancouver Island to trade manufactured goods for sea otter pelts. … Besides sea otter there were beaver and other furs.” (Holton)
“It did not take long for the Northwest Coast fur traders to discover at Hawaii a new medium for the Canton market. That market was, of course, the prime object of our Northwest fur trade.”
“China took nothing that the United States produced; hence Boston traders, in order to obtain the wherewithal to purchase teas and silks at Canton, spent eighteen months or more of each China voyage collecting a cargo of sea-otter skins, highly esteemed by the mandarins.” (Massachusetts Historical Society)
“In the 1800s there were over one hundred different languages spoken in the Pacific Northwest. It was one of the most diverse linguistic areas in the world.” (Holton)
“Every visitor to Oregon will very soon after his arrival, learn that there is in use a new language, which has been created by the necessities of the situation in which emigrants, Hudson Bay Company officers, and others found themselves, in relation to the aborigines of the country.”
“Indians have learned a few English and French words, foreigners have learned a few Indian words, so that ere long a mode of communication was introduced, which answered all the common purposes of trading and intercourse between the Indians and the white population.” (Damon)
“The origin of this Jargon, a conventional language similar to the Lingua Franca of the Mediterranean, the Negro-English-Dutch of Surinam, the Pigeon English of China, and several other mixed tongues”.
“I was particularly struck with the frequent use which was made of this jargon (as this language is called), in the intercourse of the white inhabitants among themselves.” (Damon)
“The peoples of the Northwest Coast traded extensively among themselves and with communities in the interior. A large proportion, if not most, of Chinook Jargon vocabulary was taken from Chinook proper.”
“It is thought that Chinook Jargon predates indigenous contact with Europeans and European Americans, which was initiated in the 18th century pursuant to the fur trade.”
“The English and French elements in the pidgin’s lexicon (vocabulary) seem to be primarily borrowings into Chinook Jargon after it had become widely adopted as the lingua franca for the fur trade.” (Mufwene; Britannica)
“Chinook Jargon is a Native American pidgin language spoken in the Pacific Northwest. The story of Chinook Jargon is the story of Native American culture and Pacific Northwest history.” (Holton)
“‘This is a tongue, spoken by a few in each tribe residing in the middle and lower divisions of Oregon. It is also used by the French, and nearly all old settlers in the country.’” (Palmer’s Journal; Damon)
“The heyday of Chinook Jargon could be referred to as the ‘hop days.’ New agriculture, such as hop farming, changed the economy of the Northwest even more than the fur trade.”
“Changes in the economic and social conditions of Native Americans perpetuated Chinook Jargon and spread it around the Northwest in the later 1800s.”
“The earliest immigrant settlers to the Northwest learned Chinook Jargon out of necessity. Before 1850 these settlers had daily dealings with Native Americans. Much conversation was in Chinook Jargon.”
“After 1850, the spread of Chinook Jargon was based on the new movement and settlement patterns of Native Americans. Native Americans spread Chinook Jargon outward from the Columbia River, Willamette Valley and Puget Sound areas.” (Holton)
“Chinook Jargon was the primary means of communication in many industries in the Northwest from 1860 to 1890. Native Americans furnished the bulk of hired labor for seasonal agriculture, especially hop picking, in Washington and British Columbia until 1890.”
“Fishing, canning, sealing, ranching and timber also employed many Native Americans who used Chinook Jargon as a common language.”
“Non-Natives who worked with Native Americans in these industries learned and used Chinook Jargon. Merchants who served Native Americans spoke Chinook Jargon.” (Holton)
“The conditions that made Chinook Jargon such a vibrant language eventually led to its decline. The expanding economy demanded a more efficient way of moving goods to and from the Northwest.”
“In the first half of the 1800s one had to travel for months by foot, horse, wagon, or sailing ship to get in or out. This restricted immigration to the area.”
“In 1865 this changed with the completion of the first transcontinental train track between the eastern US and California. This was soon followed by track to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. A journey that used to take three months could now be made in a week.”
“Native American communities nurtured Chinook Jargon while mass immigration changed the balance of the economy against them.”
“The official population of Washington jumped from 23,000 in 1870 to 357,000 in 1890. By 1910 it had climbed to 1,141,000. Oregon and British Columbia experienced similar growth. But Native American populations remained level.”
“Native Americans now played a smaller role in a larger economy. New immigrants to the Northwest no longer had to learn Chinook Jargon to survive. The reverse was true. The Native Americans had to learn English.” (Holton)
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Wonderful blog. It would be helpful, scholarly and just plain honest if credit were given to the source that originally published this information.
Thanks. References are noted, here, as well as in other posts.