BRINNON — Pullers and family members arriving Thursday for a potlatch and night of rest on their journey to the Port Madison Bay destination of the 2009 Tribal Canoe Journey honored a Quinault man living near Brinnon who is credited with leading the first such journey in 1989.
Family patriarch Emmett Oliver, 95 — a member of the Quinault tribe and a retired Coast Guard commander who lives on Triton Head, on Hood Canal south of Brinnon with his daughter Marilyn Bard — waited on the beach at Brinnon as at least 12 canoes arrived from the southern end of the Hood Canal.
Idea spawned in 1985
Bard said that her father came up with the idea of the first paddle journey — which was to Seattle — in 1985, recruited 13 tribes to participate, got the logs for the canoes and led the journey.
The journeys became an annual event in 1993.
They draw tribes from throughout the Pacific Northwest of both the United States and Canada to a different destination each year.
Two dozen family members came to honor Oliver, Bard said.
The pullers in the two Quinault canoes also greeted Oliver with song and shouts of thanks as they passed his house, said Patty Oliver, Emmett Oliver’s daughter-in-law.
“They hit their paddles on the deck and chanted, “Uncle Oliver, Uncle Oliver,” Patty Oliver said.
The journey up the Hood Canal was the first during a tribal canoe journey for the southern Puget Sound tribes.
It was suggested to Keith and Val Beck of Brinnon by John Smith, a Skokomish woodcarver who helped coordinate the Hood Canal leg of the trip.
He felt that the 22-mile journey would help bridge the gap between the Skokomish, who live at the south end of the canal and fish its waters, and Brinnon residents who also fish the canal.
At least 12 canoes made the trip. The Skokomish, Nisqually, Chehalis and Squaxin Island tribes were expected to participate. Makah and Quinault also joined the trip up the canal.
The pullers stayed overnight on their way to this year’s rendezvous at Suquamish land on Port Madison Bay in Kitsap County, where on Monday, five days of celebration will begin.
Another group of pullers were to leave Port Angeles today and stay overnight in Blyn, hosted by the Jamestown S’Klallam. They are due to arrive at Fort Worden State Park at about 2 p.m. Saturday.
They will be hosted by the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.
The canoes will come ashore on the beach south of the Fort Worden pier, near the campground and Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Pullers will camp in the park.
Quick preparation
In Brinnon, Val Beck learned only a few weeks ago that more than a handful of South Sound tribe canoes were coming to Brinnon to spend the night during the Hood Canal leg of the 2009 Tribal Canoe Journey.
The estimated time of arrival: between noon and 2 p.m. Thursday.
At 9 p.m. Wednesday night, she learned the guests were planning to arrive a few hours early.
So she made a lot of phone calls, and the parking lot was almost full and the shore lined with spectators when the first canoe came ashore at 11 a.m.
Beck was told as many as 21 canoes might land, but by 2 p.m., a total of 12 landed at Right Smart Cove, next to Hjelvik’s Store on the north side of Brinnon.
As each one received permission to come ashore, they were greeted by cheers and applause.
“We came up here with the wind on our back,” Smith said.
The first to arrive was a 32-foot cedar-strip Skokomish canoe pulled by Brian Parker, Dwayne Martin, Sarah Johnson and Glen Johnson, all of the Makah tribe.
They were greeted by Virginia Ferron, a Squaxin tribe member who acted as official greeter, and Michael Beck, 3, Val’s son, who also helped bring the craft ashore.
“We left around 5 a.m. and sailed part of the way,” Martin said.
“It’s good to experience all the waters of different nations.”
Next to arrive was another Skokomish canoe with seven pullers aboard, including Redwolf Krist, 30.
“We went up with the tide until about an hour ago,” he said. “Then we were bucking the tide.”
A Skokomish craft skippered by Michael Pavel preceded the arrival of the Swasulayas, a 34-long dugout canoe skipped by Eddie Green, with seven pullers aboard. The canoe’s name, pronounced “squ-keek” means white owl, Green said, and “squ-keek-ee” means white owl power.
“That was one of my great-grandfather’s powers,” Green said, referring to Jim Allen, a Skokomish tribal member.
“My grandfather, Henry Allen, was a well-known carver.”
A canoe carved and skippered by George Krist arrived just after noon. Alita Poste requested permission to land, noting that the pullers were tired and hungry, as were the crew of the Leschi Warrior, the next canoe to arrive.
“We are the Nisqually people,” Brianne McCloud announced. “We had a good pull, but we’re ready to come to shore.”
This was the fourth day on the water for McCloud and the Nisqually crew, according to Allen Frazier, coordinator of the canoe family.
About 100 people were traveling from near Steilacoom, he said, including 20 in the canoe, with stops at Arcadia, Allyn and Potlatch.
Also arriving in Brinnon was the Shapgatlo, a Quinault canoe that carried a photograph of Joe Delacruz — former chairman of the Quinault nation and brother of the canoe’s builder, Frank Delacruz — in the stern, and another Quinalt craft, Haynisisoos, a cedar-strip canoe.
Members of the Maori tribe of New Zealand, guests of the Skokomish, paddled two rough-hewn dugout canoes lashed together to shore.
Brinnon potlatch
To feed the pullers and their families, the Brinnon community held a potlatch at the school house Thursday evening, with seafood chowder, cobbler and potluck dishes.
The pullers were not the only ones who got an early start on the day.
“I’ve got 50 quarts of chowder going in my kitchen,” said Joy Baisch, who has a commercial kitchen in her bed and breakfast, Elk Meadows. “I got up at 5 a.m.”
Baisch said the tribes and the Brinnon residents are excited about reconnecting.
Jordan Brown, a Makah from Neah Bay who pulled one of the Skokomish canoes, said participating brings everyone in the tribes together.
“There’s no special treatment,” Brown said. “We all take care of each other.”
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
