Books Add To Understanding Of Qualchan’s Life, Death

A few years ago, the simple act of naming an area golf course after the Yakama warrior Qualchan was cause for controversy (Yakama is the tribe’s preferred spelling).

But how many of us are all that familiar with the history of Qualchan, of who he was, what he did and what happened that fateful day that he blithely rode into the camp commanded by Col. George Wright?

Numerous books have tackled the above subjects, ranging from those written by professional historians and published by university presses to self-published studies and personal memoirs.

Two books that came across the transom recently are among the latter. Both, not surprisingly, are the work of Fairfield’s Ye Galleon Press.

T.G. Boyden’s “Warrior of the Mist” (Ye Galleon, 347 pages, $14.95 paperback, $24.95 hardback), an original publication, is an exhaustive attempt to not only tell the story of Qualchan, but also to document the overall struggles between the native peoples and the white settlers who came to work and live in the Inland Northwest.

Author Teresa Boyden, 44, who lives in Spokane, says she did 10 years research to write her book. Her interest stemmed from all the conflicting stories she’d heard about the origin of the name Hangman Creek.

“The first version I heard (about Qualchan’s death) was that Qualchan had died like a coward,” says Boyden, who earned an MFA in creative writing at Eastern Washington University. “That sounded wrong.”

Citing some 45 historical documents, and augmenting her research with personal interviews of Yakama and Colville tribal elders, Boyden writes also about the region’s notable battles at Steptoe Butte, Four Lakes and the Spokane Plains.

Boyden doesn’t pretend to be a historian. As she wrote in the book’s introduction, “This author has served mostly as narrator, in the capacity of a seamstress, stitching together the various accounts of Qualchan’s life.”

“Pioneer Reminiscences” (Ye Galleon, 20 pages, $4.95) by John E. Smith is a reprint from the October 1916 edition of the Washington Historical Quarterly. Smith, who died at age 85 in Reardan, Wash., was a civilian worker present at the battle of Four Lakes, and he was in Col. Wright’s camp the day Qualchan was hung. Later on, he managed to save an Indian pony from the mass killing that Wright’s troops did of some 800 tribal horses.

Smith, who recounted his experiences to William S. Lewis, corresponding secretary of the Spokane Historical Society, adds only barely to the mass of documents written on Inland Northwest history. But his terse account is one of the few eyewitness reportings of Qualchan’s death.

“They put a rope around a limb of a tree and pulled Qualchan up,” Smith recalled. “He seemed a much surprised Indian.”

Life in the garden

Spokane’s Teresa Keene, one of Washington State University’s Master Gardeners, writes a regular column for “The Cowboy Country Express.” A collection of 33 of her columns has been printed in a collection titled “White Cats & Lilacs” (Howell Press, 104 pages, $10.95, ISBN 1-57427-060-5).

“‘White Cats & Lilacs’ is not a book of expert advice on gardening,” Keene wrote. “I carry no degrees in the field. I wrote the essays you now hold one at a time for a small but heartfelt Texas newspaper. I wrote them because I love gardening and because I wanted to help other people appreciate and love it, too.”

Just for kids

Cheney’s Laurie Carlson has seen publication of a new activity book for children. “Westward Ho!” (Chicago Review Press, 184 pages, $12.95, ISBN 1-55652-271-1) is described as “a hands-on history” that allows children to “make Meriwether Lewis’ ‘Pocket Soup,’ dowse for water, sing saddle songs or oil paper for a soddy’s windows.” The book is designed for children ages 5 to 12.

The reader board

W. Berry Fowler, author of “Return From Krypton,” will read from his business-oriented self-help book at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

John Thorndike, author of “Another Way Home,” will read from his memoir at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Linda Allen, author of “Washington Songs and Lore,” will discuss and perform songs of the Pacific Northwest at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

, DataTimes