"The Chinook Tribe is the great unseen presence of the Columbia-Pacific region. Here for centuries prior to contact with Robert Gray or Lewis and Clark, the Chinooks had a trading network that reached far up the Columbia River and north toward what is now Canada. Dealing with Japanese and Chinese sailors, they were the original American multinational organization.

But even as Lewis and Clark traveled upriver, on their way home to Missouri, there was evidence that the tribe’s population was being decimated by disease.

Except for small reference points – such as a replica of Comcomly’s canoe at the Astoria Column – there is scant interpretation around here of what once was a considerable civilization at the Columbia’s mouth."

Get the Story:
EDITORIAL: Chinook Tribe gains sharper focus (The Daily Astorian 9/16)

Also Today:
Chinooks get first national park (The Daily Astorian 9/15)