THE GREAT COUNCIL GROUND

WRITTEN BY Liz Bryson

There’s something about the Kittitas Valley, nestled in the middle of Washington State, that draws people in and beckons them to stay. Surrounded to the south and east by miles of grasslands, and to the north and west by dense forest, the valley is like an oasis with its welcoming green hills and ribbon of swift-moving water, the Yakima River.

The valley’s serenity and striking beauty are what likely attracted the first people known to live here, the Kittitas Indians, as well as the pioneers, who arrived in the early 1800s. It makes perfect sense that when settlers arrived, they were taken in by the bucolic view that lay before them. With the jagged and beautiful Mount Stuart in the distance and rolling green below, what they saw probably reminded them of their faraway European roots.

But what the first European, a Scotsman fur trader by the name of Alexander Ross, saw as he gazed into the great valley was anything but peaceful. On a fateful day in April of 1814, Ross discovered Che-lo-han, the Great Council Ground. It was unlike anything the well-traveled trapper had ever seen before.

Centuries before Ross’s arrival, thousands of American Indians lived in the valley. Evidence of their existence dates back to about 4600 BC, and their tribal reign is documented starting from about 1700. They were known then as the Psch-wan-wap-pams (stony ground people). One group, the northernmost band of the Yakama Indians, settled in the Kittitas Valley, and so they became known as the Kittitas.

The Kittitas and other Yakama bands were wanderers and moved seasonally from area to area in search of roots, berries, fish, deer, and other sustenance. It is estimated that the Kittitas had up to 500 members, while all the Yakama bands totaled about 3,500. By 1853 only about 2,000 remained, according to Ellensburg, Washington historian Grace Elkins.

“They died of smallpox, measles, and fevers,” Elkins said. “Their populations declined drastically.”
According to another local historian now long deceased, Andrew Jackson Splawn, the Kittitas band would move north in the autumn to what is known today as Cle Elum, which meant swift water.

“…up the Ya-ki-ma River to Cle-el-um, then beyond the lake, they went into camp at I-i-yas (Fish Lake). Here the women with their baskets sought the hills to gather berries, while the men, with bows and arrows, took to the mountains to kill the deer, mountain goat, and bear which were here in abundance.”i

The wandering band lived in the valley for longer than anyone truly knows. They bred some of the finest horses in the Pacific Northwest, hunted, fished, and gathered one of the most essential and abundant of roots, the camas bulb — high in calories and good for storing. In just a few days, women were able to gather enough to last a winter. These bulbs were harvested in the spring in a specific area of the Kittitas Valley known as Che-lo-han, where they were turned into a long-lasting winter diet.

However, Che-lo-han, located about ten miles northeast of Ellensburg along Caribou Creek, was no ordinary harvesting location. It was a gathering place for up to 10,000 Indians, according to historians. They came from across Washington State and Idaho to trade, barter, hold highly competitive horse and foot races, socialize, and work out their differences. It is said by long-time Ellensburg locals that up until about 20 years ago, the beaten earth where horses raced could still be seen.

In one of fur trader Alexander Ross’s first documentations of Che-lo-han, written in 1814 and later published in his book, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, it was also a place where the Indians “hold their councils, and settle the affairs of peace or war for the year; it is, therefore, the great national rendezvous, where thousands meet…” ii
It was here at Che-lo-han that the Kittitas had one of their first interactions with a white man.

After traveling for days in a canoe on the Columbia River, Ross, a determined Scotsman in search of horses, arrived in the Kittitas Valley. He’d heard about the superiority of Kittitas horses and wanted only those.

As he made his way to a clearing that overlooked the valley below, the trapper and his companions stared in disbelief. They gazed upon an endless smoke- and noise-filled canyon that cradled an encampment Ross estimated to be six miles wide. It was a camp “…of which we could see its beginning but not its end!” iii

“…the din of men, the noise of women, the screaming of children, the trampling of horses, the howling of dogs was more than can be described,” he wrote in his journal. iv

Ross had been warned of the gathering by other Indians along the way, but nothing they told him could have prepared him for Che-lo-han.

“Can you imagine it?” asked a wide-eyed Milton Wagy, local historian and research librarian for the Ellensburg Public Library. “As far as the eye could see it was solid Indians and dogs. The noise was horrendous. There were people everywhere and the constant sound of drums. They were just stunned.”

Ross and his companions dismounted and paid respect to the tribal elders, but they were not welcome.
“‘These are the men who kill our relations, the people who have caused us to mo[u]rn,’” v a chief said to the crowd.
In Ross’s journal, the interactions between him, his companions, and the Indians were unfriendly, but despite that, he remained at the camp for several days, continuing to buy horses that he desperately needed in order to expand a fur trade that would later become a staple of livelihood for Kittitas Valley settlers.

“They took (my) men’s guns out of their hands, fired them off at their feet, and then, with savage laughter, laid them down again; took their hats off their heads, and after strutting about with these for some time, jeeringly gave them back to their owners…,” Ross wrote. vi

Over several days, Ross improved his relations with the Kittitas and explored the camp with them. At one point, a chief kept him out all night — an adventure he documented in lively detail.

“Such a night! We visited every street, alley, hole and corner of the camp… There was gambling, there was dancing. Laughter in one place, mourning in another. Crowds passing to and from, whooping, yelling, dancing, drumming, singing. Men, women, and children huddled together; flags flying, horses neighing, dogs howling chained bears, tied wolves, grunting and growling; all pell-mell among the tents; and to complete the confusion, the night was dark.” vii

Historians have said it’s likely Ross’s journal entries and the number of Indians at the camp were exaggerated for readers back home in Europe. Nonetheless, his writings are critical in understanding the lives of those who lived in the Kittitas Valley first.

By the time the late 1800s had arrived, settlers were homesteading the area and the Yakama tribes were either forced to move onto reservations, or they were given the opportunity to buy land that they’d once hunted and cultivated freely. Their numbers dwindled from disease, starvation, and relocation.

Che-lo-han was eventually settled in 1884 by pioneer Charles Smith, who according to his daughter Ruth Galen, became fluent in the Kittitas Indians’ language.

In the book, A History of Kittitas County, Volume I, Galen wrote, “The tribe thought highly of my father, who could speak their language fluently, they came to him many times for advice. He gave them land on his property for their burial ground.” viii

A handful of settlers were able to document the Kittitas’s traditions and took photographs of them. Today, most of those photos, as well as maps and written stories, can be found at the Ellensburg Public Library and at the Kittitas County Historical Museum, both located in downtown Ellensburg.

There are several groups dedicated to preserving the genealogical timelines of the valley, and many of the settlers’ grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to live here. A handful even continue to work the farms and ranches that their ancestors cultivated.

Photos provided by the Ellensburg Public Library and Grace Elkins

References:
i Andrew Jackson Splawn, Ka-mi-akin—The Last Hero of the Yakimas [Portland, Oregon: Metropolitan Press, 1917], 6
ii Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West [Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001], 22
iii Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, 23
iv Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, 23
v Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, 23
vi Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, 25
vii Alexander Ross, The Fur Hunters of the Far West, 27
viii Compiled and Published by the Kittitas County Centennial Committee, A History of Kittitas County, Volume I, [Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1989], 526)