Introduction

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Crater Lake National Park stands at or near the territorial boundaries of four Indian peoples. To the east and southeast lay the lands of the Klamath, to the southwest the lands of the Takelma, to the west the lands of the Upper Umpqua, and to the northwest the lands of the Molala.

The post-contact experience of the Klamath was very different from that of the Oregon tribes of southwest Oregon, including the Takelma, Molala, and Upper Umpqua. In southwest Oregon the de facto policy was one of near-extermination, with survivors forced to reservations far from their homelands in contrast, as Leslie Spier observed of the Klamath, "the drastic destruction of the western and central Oregon tribes had passed them by" (Spier 1927a:45). As a consequence, much is known of the aboriginal culture of the Klamath, far less of the other three peoples considered here. Rather than attempting to summarize all aspects of a very large literature, these ethnographic descriptions will focus on those aspects of Klamath, Takelma, Upper Umpqua, or Molala life most relevant for an understanding of the cultural context of Crater Lake.

The Klamath were bordered to the west by the Takelma and the Molala. To the southwest the Klamath bordered the Shasta; to the south. The Modoc (a group with close social and cultural links to the Klamath); and to the east, the Northern Paiute. The distinctive features of the Klamath Basin environment and the interactions-whether peaceful or warlike--between these tribes in a sense defined Klamath territory.

Nonetheless, "territory" must be understood in the context of tribal, rather than state-level, political organization Rather than conceiving of Klamath (or Takelma, or Molala) territory as a definite, uniquely held domain, it is more accurate to distinguish between a core homeland and a peripheral resource area which might be utilized by several contiguous groups. The following comments regarding territory in aboriginal California could apply in large measure to the Klamath as well: each of the Indian groups in northern California, especially those in high elevation areas, claimed a nuclear territory which constituted their national homeland and in which their permanent villages were located. These tribal homelands seemed to be universally recognized by the various Indian nations, and mainly consisted of river valleys, basins. and lakeshores The intervening uplands were exploited only seasonally in the warmer months, and almost invariably, two or more groups exploited these same territories. (Jensen and Farber 1982:21-22)

Klamath territory centered on Upper Klamath Lake, Klamath Marsh, and the Williamson River. Here most of the permanent villages were found, with some additional settlements located in the uplands to the east, along the Sprague River Seasonal camps, in contrast, were "established over a much wider territory, as far, it would seem, as the natural limits of [the Klamath Basin] drainage area" (Spier 1930:8). To the north the Klamath ranged to the headwaters of the Deschutes River, to the east some seventy miles to the escarpment above Summer and Silver Lakes, and to the west to the peaks of the Cascades (Stern n.d.:8). Spier noted that "the wide plain south of Klamath Falls seems to have been unoccupied," though during the spring fishing the Klamath and Modoc tribes met on Lost River, the Klamath occupying the northern, and the Modoc occupying the southern bank of that river (Spier 1930:9).

Klamath territory stood at the periphery of several major aboriginal culture areas: the Plateau, Great Basin, Northwest Coast, and California. Accordingly, aboriginal Klamath culture reflected a number of diverse influences in such matters as economy, social organization, and values (see Stern n.d.:10-12). Klamath culture was shaped by its specialized adaptation to a marsh, lake, and river environment, seen in the predominant place of fish and pond-lily seeds (wokas) in the Klamath diet. Beyond this adaptive focus, however, Klamath culture reflected a number of influences:

one may note the California flavor of the separatistic hamlets with their loose social and political organization; the weakly developed (and possibly late) wealth complex, suggestive of the Northwest and the Oregon coast; and the formalized shamanistic religion which points to affinities with tribes in the Plateau, California, and elsewhere (Spencer 1952b:217)

The term "Klamath" was apparently derived from Chinook (Stern nd:l) The Klamath term of self-reference is maqlaqs. However, the term was frequently used as part of the placename of a particular Klamath group, rather than designating the ethnic collectivity as a whole. For example, the largest Klamath grouping, located on Klamath Marsh and the Upper Williamson River, "was known as 'ewksikni maqlaqs, or simply by the former term (<'ews, lake)" (Stern n.d.:2). (1)

Estimates of the aboriginal Klamath population are conflicting and difficult to evaluate. Spier suggested 1200 persons at the time of contact, of whom an estimated 600 made up the 'ewksikni or Klamath Marsh division (Spier 1930:5). Stem (n.d.:14) has suggested 1000 for the aboriginal Klamath population. Klamath elders have suggested that the pre-contact population (including Klamath, Modoc, and Yahuskin Paiute groups, which were jointly to compose the Klamath Reservation), would have numbered about 2000.

Given current debates regarding population levels in pre-contact North America, such figures should be taken cautiously. Nonetheless, available estimates for the region suggest that population densities for the Shasta to the southwest or for the tribes of the Oregon Coast were perhaps ten times that of the Klamath and Modoc, while that of the Northern Paiute to the east were perhaps one-fourth of the Klamath figure. (Stem 1966:5)

Adaptation

As the archaeological record demonstrates (see Chapter 8), by several thousand years ago the people of the Klamath Basin had developed an efficient and fairly specialized adaptation, emphasizing fish and the marsh-growing wokas, with a secondary dependence on a wide range of roots, seeds, fruit, and shellfish. Animals were commonly hunted with bow and-arrow, though nooses (for deer) and nets (for water birds) were also employed (Barrett 1907:246-47). Traditionally, hunting was not a cultural emphasis; in Leslie Spier's phrase, "deer rind other game are only of minor importance" (Spier 1930:145). Nonetheless, it had a significant place in the total subsistence round: Spier (1930:156-57) listed over forty species of mammals and birds in the Klamath diet.

Collection of reeds

As was characteristic throughout the region, the Klamath subsistence quest involved shifting residence patterns, from quasi-permanent villages near ice-free streams or springs during the winter, to a series of fishing, gathering, and hunting sites through the spring, summer, and fall. Winter dwellings consisted of circular, semi-subterranean earth lodges, roofed with mats, grass, and dirt over a pole frame. Summer dwellings were more ephemeral, being covered with mats (Spier 1930:197-205). The changing seasons and availability of resources largely determined this cycle:

The fixed villages are the winter residences to which people return year after year. Each spring finds them leaving for favorable fishing stations where there are successive fish runs. Through the summer they move to the prairies to gather edible roots and berries or to the mountain and desert to hunt. During most of this time families are widely scattered and the winter villages quite deserted, but with the ripening of pond lily seeds in the marshes during August and September they again congregate. (Spier 1930:10)

As can be seen from Table 3 - 1, fishing was a nearly constant activity, though particularly rich during the spring Wokas provided the plant staple, and its harvest formed a key element of the activity of late summer and fall.

Social Organization

Klamath villages were composed of one or more bilaterally extended families, headed by men of wealth and influence (laqi). Household membership was flexible, being formed on many principles. Such households could include the nuclear families of the senior male's son or daughter, his siblings and their kin, kin of his wife or wives, aged parents, and friends (Stem n.d.:28). The range of size of such villages is difficult to reconstruct. Assuming Stem's estimate of 70 Klamath villages and an aboriginal population of 1000, each village would have held on the average fourteen persons. Spier (1930:53-54) gives an example of a household centering on a male shaman, numbering twenty in all.

Marriage was accompanied by a payment of bridewealth, consistent with the rather attenuated form of the wealth complex to be found in the Plateau. Residence was usually uxorilocal (with the wife's parents) immediately after marriage, shifting to a virilocal (with the husband's parents) after children were born and substantial wealth accumulated (Stern nd:29: cf Spier 1930:53). There was no rule of village exogamy, though Spier noted a tendency for endogamy within the tribelet. Polygyny was permitted. Both the sororate (marriage with several sisters) and the levirate (marriage of a widow by the younger brother of a deceased husband) were considered appropriate though not obligatory (Spier 1930: 43-51; Spencer et al 1977:180-182)

Klamath society was ranked, insofar as "chiefs" were recognized and slaves were held. Nonetheless, the Klamath did not manifest the social differentiation known to Northwest Coast societies: chiefly rank was not hereditary, nor was there any class-like distinction of nobles and commoners. In traditional Klamath society the influence of such "chiefs" (or better, head-men) within each community or tribelet was strictly limited: "the Klamath made little of chiefs .... rich men, leaders in war, but they were speakers only, offering an example To the group by their success in wealth" (Spencer et al. 1977:180). (1) In contrast, shamans had great importance. As Spier noted, "The shaman himself is. or was, the outstanding figure of Klamath society. He had no rival in the chiefs, the rich man, until the coming of the whites brought a redistribution of emphasis in Klamath life" (Spier 1930:94)

Slaves were captured in war, and seeking slaves in fact provided a major motive for raids. Slaves were primarily Achomawi or Atsugewi, though Northern Paiute, Shasta, and some Takelma were also taken. However, the Indian (or at least Klamath) slaveholding cannot be equated in any simple terms with Euro-American practices. The term lo'ks meant equally "slave," "war captive," or simply "foreigner," and according to Spencer, did not imply a degraded status (Spencer 1952a:5). Spier commented that "It is suite likely that a slave's life is much like that of any poor Klamath" (Spier 1930:40).

Until the nineteenth century, at least, trade was probably of minor importance to the Klamath and following from that fact, the potential for differences in wealth comparatively limited. Spier noted the following wealth items mentioned by Klamath informants (in order of frequency):

slaves, horses, beads--and not always dentalium--food, archers' equipment, furs and hides, especially elk hides, Plains type garments, armor, large houses, buffalo skins, canoes. (Spier 1930:43)

Many of the items were trade goods, and scarce or unavailable until the expansion of the southern Plateau trade networks in the early nineteenth century (see Spier 1930:41-43; Stern 1956a:230-34)

The Klamath as a whole were united by a common language and a common culture, but did not share a single, integrated political organization. Rather, the Klamath people belonged to a series of geographically localized divisions or tribelets (cf Bean 1978:673) While summer camps might shift from year to year, the stability of the winter village settlements provided "a measure of political separatism to the several localities" (Spier 1930:11), To some degree tribal identity was ambiguous, as Spier noted:

The Klamath are not a single political entity. There are four or possibly five subdivisions or tribelets, each occupying a distinct district, and practically autonomous, This is separatism of the familiar Californian order Nevertheless, the cohesion rising from a common dialect, common culture, and a uniform reaction against all nontribesmen, which on occasion leads to jointly taking the field against them, produces a tribal solidarity resembling that of the Plains people. (Spier 1930:21)

Feuds were common between tribal divisions, but did not occur between the settlements of a single division. Further, such feuds "are carried on much as warfare with foreigners; property is destroyed, women and children enslaved" (Spier 1930:22). Similarly, the Klamath lacked integrating mechanisms through which the entire tribe could unite: "when it comes to war with outsiders, each group can act for itself, others may join if they wish" (Spier 1930:22).

By all accounts, the Klamath Marsh - Williamson River tribelet was numerically and perhaps culturally dominant; the Klamath Falls group was the next largest (see Table 3 - 3). These concentrations of population reflected the richer resources available along Klamath Lake and Klamath Marsh. There is disagreement regarding the precise number of divisions. Spier subsumed the eastern settlements along the Sprague River under the Klamath Marsh division (Spier 1930:13-23). Stern, however, considered the Upland Klamath of the Sprague River Valley to form a distinct tribelet, though noting a somewhat composite membership, consisting of "Klamath with some Modoc and Paiute elements" (Stem 1966:19). He also suggested that the tiny Agency Lake contingent was in fact part of the Klamath Marsh division. A Klamath tribal representative agreed with Spier's analysis in viewing Lake as an autonomous group, but added to those groups already mentioned a seventh, centered at Chiloquin (G. Bettels, pers, comm).

Klamath Tribelets

Slaves, Pit River bows, and beads are taken there to trade for horses, blankets, buffalo skins, parfleches, beads (probably dentalium shells), dried salmon, and lampreys Two slave children are valued at five horses, several buffalo skins, and some beads. (Spier 1930:41)

The Klamath acquired horses relatively late: they were not a significant item of trade until about 1840. The addition of the horse to the Plateau trade network provided a strong incentive to the Klamath to increase trade, in particular stimulating the Klamath interest in slave raiding.

Klamath slave trading formed part of what Leland Donald has termed the "Columbia River Network":

This network stretches from the west coast of Vancouver Island in the north to the present-day Oregon-California border in the south, ... the flow of slaves was largely toward the Columbia River from both the northern and southern parts of the network.

Slaves [were] traded from the Klamath and Shasta of southern Oregon and northern California to Upper Chinook groups, especially in the region of the Dalles. Trade in slaves also came from these two groups via groups along the Willamette River to the Cowlitz and Lower Chinook at the Columbia River mouth. (Donald 1984:127)

The Klamath's trade to the north proceeded along several well established trails:

While one branch of the Klamath trail led northward, probably down the Deschutes valley, the western branch led by way of the north fork of the Santiam River across the Cascades to the settlements of the Northern Molala, on the river of the same name, there merging with a trail running north from Mehama through Mulino and terminating at Oregon City. (Stern 1956a:233-34)

Other trails included one running past Huckleberry Mountain to the Rogue River, and another proceeding via Rocky Point and Lake of the Woods to what is now the town of Ashland (G. Bettels, pers, comm.)." For one informants accounts of Klamath raids on Rogue River (Takelma?). Pit River, and Snake Northern Paiute) groups, see Gatschet 1890:116-33

1 The expression of traditional leadership through the role of "speaker' was also noted in tribal comments on this chapter.

Ritual and World View

Spier described a number of significant rituals for the Klamath Female puberty was marked by a five-night ceremony, similar in many respects to the puberty ceremonies of the Modoc and Shasta (Spier 1930:68-71; Voegelin 1942:122-28). A complex series of shamanistic performances occurred during mid-winter (Spier 1930:112-22). First sucker ceremonies were held in the spring (Spier 1930:148), Cremation of the dead was "the universal practice, even for suicides, the newborn, and the stillborn" (Spier 1930:71).

As with other Indian peoples of the region, however, the ritual life of the Klamath centered on the quest for spirit power. The Klamath recognized a variety of spirits, "predominantly birds and animals, winds, lightning and the like, and a handful of anthropomorphic beings" (Spier 1930:93). Any one of these could be sought for blessings. Power or good luck could be sought for a variety of situations, among these "curing, gambling, love-making, and shamanistic trickery" (Spier 1930:93) Spirit manifested themselves through songs, heard in the seeker's dreams. (1) These formed the key to spirit power. As Spier has interpreted this view,

The spirit never manifests itself but in the song; the singer is the vehicle, the voice of the spirit. Song and spirit are one and the same thing. (Spier 1930:95)

The spirit quest followed a consistent form. Anyone could seek power, and seemingly all or almost all undertook a quest at least once in a lifetime. The quest involved separation, a retreat to lonely and thus powerful places:

Power is sought in lonely spots in the mountains, in mountain pools, in eddies in the rivers, in all places where spirits are known to dwell. A boy is sent into the mountains on a vigil of several days, perhaps five. ... He must fast and must not touch his hands to his face, but must use a scratcher instead. He must sleep without covering and warm himself only occasionally by a little fire. He runs about constantly throughout the night, piling rocks into high piles... and swimming in the mountain pools. He prays, calling loudly to the spirits, and finally gets an answer. (Spier 1930:95)

Verne Ray noted that in both Klamath and Modoc cultures, there was considerable emphasis on "making artificial rock piles for religious or commemorative purposes and for attributing mythological significance to rock piles of unknown origin" (Ray 1963:xiii).

From a traditional Klamath perspective, one can contrast two ritual forms: the vision quest proper, most commonly undertaken at puberty, whose aim is to gain or augment spirit power; and the crisis quest, a retreat to sacred places at times of tragedy, often by entire families, whose aim is spiritual healing of the troubled or bereaved (G. Bettels, pers, comm; see also Spier 1930:94).

The location of the quest was not random, but reflected what could be termed a spiritual geography, a world view in which specific spirits or powers dwelt in particular points within mountains, lakes, or rivers. "Spirits are legion and in many cases are localized, so that one looking over the countryside finds it rich in religious connotation" (Spier 1930:100).

Certain individuals pursued the spirit quest to a much greater degree, developing powers which set them apart as extraordinary individuals. As curers, diviners, and teachers these specialists (qyoqs)-predominantly but not invariably men--had a central place in Klamath life:

These "medicine-men" do not only treat the sick, but they arrange and preside over the "doctor-dances" in the communal dance house, are consulted for dreams, predict the weather, during the pond-lily harvest give advice on the more important incidents of tribal pursuits, and are much dreaded on account of their alleged power of sorcery. (Gatschet 1890: Pt, 2:135)

While the qyoqs had outstanding importance, outshining the chiefs until Euro-American influence altered the political balance, their powers were only intensified versions of the power that all individuals could seek.

These specialists have most commonly been termed shamans, for example by Spier (1930:107) and Stem (n.d.:45). However, as applied to the Klamath (or to any tribe of the region) the term requires qualification. Hultkrantz, in his study of American Indian religions, has contrasted two forms of supernatural curer, which he termed the visionary and the ecstatic:

we may distinguish , two main types of medicine man: the visionary, whose trance is light and whose clairvoyance is distinctive, and the ecstatic, who may converse with the spirits or depart from his own body in deep trance... Only the latter should really be called a shaman. (Hultkrantz 1979:87)

Shamanism in its strict sense describes a religious complex "in which specialists undertake to heal, guide, and prophesy through trance behavior and mystical night" (R. Winthrop 19911 s.v "shamanism"), a pattern best known from the circumpolar cultures, notably of Siberia. In the distinction posed by Hultkrantz, the qyoqs is a visionary, not an ecstatic. His (or her) key ability is possession of spirit songs, not entry into trance and mystical flight (see Spier 1930:109; cf Eliade 1964).

Klamath beliefs regarding the qyoqs (variously termed by Gatschet "conjurer" and "medicine-man") are nicely summarized in the following text:

Once man long ago spoke thus: over there is my bewitched wife, having fallen sick; you bewitched (her). Then an old man he sent out to call a conjurer [qyoqs]; and he started, the old man, to fetch the conjurer, and to call him out, helloed; and he heard the magic songs, conjurers' songs on the mountain, far away are these songs. Then goes the conjurer to treat (her), to the spot where she lies bewitched. Now he works on her, and sucks. A big thing comes out through (his) mouth; he orders (those present) to sing, while he would suck on with (his) mouth. Then he sucks out, and feels choked, and throws up again his sucked-out article; his expounder [lularkish = shaman's assistant] swallows (it). Now (after) he has swallowed (it), worse that (patient) being treated, in spite of, (she) is worse, she almost looks toward the spirit land. The conjurer starts to leave. wanting to retire because she turned worse, (and) the food not passing through (bowels). Hereupon he speaks thus whose own wife is sick for being bewitched, to the conjurer: "you have bewitched her." But the conjurer opposes denial [argues]: "not I did bewitch (her)! She had become sick (before)!" conjurer then so said. Now dies the woman. They struck (and) killed the conjurer for this woman being bewitched (and) having died. And the people [maklaks] cremated the woman killed by the conjurer; the conjurer they brought him back to (his) lodge and cremated (him). (2)

Shamans were ambiguous figures: capable of curing, but equally of turning their powers in malevolent directions. Here a man suspects his wife's illness to be the result of a shaman's sorcery. He finds the shaman, and brings him to his wife. For the Klamath, illness was assumed to result from intrusion of foreign objects, for example through a sorcerer's magic; accordingly, the shaman's cure involves "sucking out" such objects, which are conspicuously exhibited in the course of treatment. However, the patient turns worse and dies, confirming the husband's suspicions. The shaman is killed, and--in keeping with Klamath practice--both bodies are cremated.

2 Adapted from Gatschet's interlinear translation (Gatschet 1890: Pt. 1 GR-69)

Myth

Myth telling was generally reserved for winter, when family groups had resumed to the village settlements, and the harsh weather limited extensive travel:

the usual setting for Klamath myth-narration was the dark interior of a lodge, on a cold winter night when the earth lay snowbound. This was the season of social gatherings, the period when shamanistic performances drew many spectators of all ages together. (Stern l956b:43)

While obviously myths are passed from older to younger generations, there is some evidence that myth-telling was particularly a female concern, and Stern has commented on "the common tendency for myths to be transmitted through the maternal grandmother" (Stem 1956b:4). (1)

The most significant figure of Klamath myth is Kmukampsh, the "ancient old man" and Klamath version of the "trickster-transformer" character common to much of North American myth (Stem 1953:164). Kmukampsh is the Klamath "culture hero, creator, ordainer of the present order." In one myth, Gopher and Kmukampsh together create the Klamath landscape through their play. Then,

Kmukampsh peoples the world with animals and, placing a characteristic material in each territory--obsidian for the Achomawi and Paiute, marble in the Shasta country, tules for the Klamath--from which mankind, it seems, arises. (Stem 1953:164). (2)

Kmukampsh is particularly lecherous, and a number of myths comment on the prodigious size of his penis. In a characteristic myth, Kmukampsh tries to seduce the wife of his foster son, Aisis. Kmukampsh uses his powers to raise Aisis into the sky, and then impersonates him before his wife. Eventually Aisis manages to return to earth, and Kmukampsh is tricked and destroyed, only to come to life once again (Stern 1953:166). (3)

Among the other key figures of Klamath myth are coyote, skunk, bear, and owl. Probably the most popular figures are the paired Mink and his younger brother, Weasel (or Old Marten and Weasel).

Mink is clever and resourceful, a warrior, "tricky," but consistently just in the roles he plays. Like a shaman, "he knows everything that happens." ... Weasel, on the other hand, is the marplot, "always getting into something." . Mischievous, curious, a restless bundle of random activity, [he is] a "kid brother" who wants to try what Mink is doing, and fails in the attempt. (Stern 1953:161) (4)

Compilations of Klamath myth are given in Gatschet 1890; Barker 1963a; and Ramsey 1977. For a summary of the major Klamath myths, see Stern 1963b. Several Klamath myths concern Crater Lake (see chap. 4).

2 A version is given in Ramsey 1977:185-86.

3 The myth of Kmukampsh and Aisis is given in Gatschet 1890:1:94-97.

4 For a comparative perspective on the elder/younger pair in Plateau myth, see Sapir 1909:34

Post-Contact Life

The Klamath felt the influence of Euro-Americans well before extensive exploration and settlement reached the Klamath Basin. By the early nineteenth century the presence of Hudson's Bay Company traders along the Columbia River served both to expand native trade networks and to arm many of the Sahaptin tribes of that region. The Klamath encountered Hudson's Bay personnel beginning in 1825. Nonetheless for several decades the Klamath remained relatively isolated from the Euro-American presence centered on the Columbia (Stem 1956a:230-32).

In the 1840s the American expeditions led by John C. Fremont marked a new era, in which the goal was conquest and subjugation of the Indian peoples, rather than merely exploration and trade. Changing conditions drew the Klamath into sporadic though unsuccessful warfare against white settlers. At the same time, the wealth that could be gained through slave raiding and trading provided greater incentives for warfare against other Indian tribes. These factors led to a series of changes: greater prestige for leadership in warfare, a more permanent pattern of leadership, and "a heightened sense of Klamath political, as well as cultural, integrity" (Stem 1956a:241).

Over the next two decades the white presence in southern Oregon, military and civilian, steadily increased. In 1864 a treaty was negotiated, not only with the Klamath but with the Modoc and a group of Northern Paiutes as well, ceding vast territories to the federal government, and creating in compensation a reservation of approximately 1,100,000 acres. This established the federally recognized Klamath Tribe, bringing together Klamath, Modoc, and Paiute on what had been exclusively Klamath territory (Stern 1956a; Kappler et al. 19041941:2:865-868; Ruby and Brown 1986:91). This event began a radical transformation of the Klamath way of life.

As a result of the 1864 treaty the Klamath had to contend with a new authority, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Here as elsewhere the Bureau sought to transform Indian culture. As Indian Commissioner Thomas J. Morgan, in 1889, acknowledge the Bureau's long-standing policy, "The Indians must conform to 'the white man's ways,' peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must" (in Hagan 1988:61). For the Klamath, as Stern has noted, this policy "effected sweeping social change on the reservation, leveling the nascent class distinctions by freeing slaves as full members of the reservation and banning Polygyny, a prerogative particularly of the wealthy" (Stern n.d.:53). More broadly,

An enforced culture change began with the treaty. There was as a result proscription of the shaman's ecstatic curing activities and an intensity of Christian missionization. Other introductions included a new technology, White education in reservation boarding schools, a new status in relation to an established administrative agency, and new concepts of property, society, and political tribe. (Spencer 1952b:219)

The Klamath historian and former tribal chairman Lynn Schonchin described the change in these terms:

The Klamath experienced the situation of being bound to the land in a different sense. In the aboriginal sense, they were bound to the land by birth because it provided subsistence. Now, they were bound to a reservation by law. This also changed the way in which they lived. Cultural practices were forbidden, no longer could they use the sweatlodge, no longer could they go to the mountains and streams on power quests, no longer could they practice their religion, even their language was forbidden. Yet, because of the strong cultural foundation they had, they adjusted to the new society, and adopted its practices. (Schonchin 1990:150)

It is a testimony to the strength of Klamath culture that, despite the government's best efforts, the Klamath language and many significant elements of Klamath tradition survived.

Among the reactions to this policy of forced culture change was the enthusiastic acceptance of a series of millenarian movements: in 1871 the Ghost Dance and in 1874 the Earthlodge Cult. Both movements taught that if proper ritual were followed, the dead would return and a new era of felicity would begin for the Indians. These movements carried at least an implicit anti-white sentiment, at times becoming overt in doctrines predicting the disappearance of the whites as part of the predicted world transformation. In the mid-1870s the Dream Dance appeared. This had a different character: rather than offering millenarian images, it provided a new vehicle for traditional (and officially prohibited) shamanistic performance (see Spier 1927a; Nash 1937; DuBois 1939:11-12). The Indian Shaker Church, a syncretic religious movement originating oil Puget Sound which combined traditional and Christian elements, came to the Klamath Reservation in 1914. It remained influential there for several decades, and retains a small but active following today (Barnett 1957; Stem1966:223-37; Amoss 1990).

The modern Klamath Reservation has had a complex history. Tribal boundaries have been repeatedly redrawn, and complex schemes of compensation undertaken (Ruby and Brown 1986:90-95). The General Allotment (Dawes) Act of 1887, intended to break up tribal holdings and convert traditional Indian peoples into Americanized farmers, proved comparatively ineffective on Klamath Reservation. The Klamath Reservation lands consisted largely of timber, inhospitable to farming, and in any case too valuable to be declared surplus and sold to outsiders. As a result, from early in the twentieth century tribal members received substantial income from timber operations (Stern 1961:172-73). The comparative wealth this allowed served as an effective goad to culture change, and in particular to the abandonment of much traditional economic activity:

From 1913, tribal members began to enjoy dividends from the cutting of tribal timber, in the form of semi-annual per capita payments. They also saw the mushroom growth of mill towns upon the face of the reservation, where sizeable bodies of whites, far exceeding the total tribal membership, lived under state jurisdiction and offered a scale of living previously beyond ken and reach of tribal members, but now close and seemingly attainable. (Stern 1961:173)

In 1955 the Klamath Tribe had 2118 enrolled members (Stem 1966:316). Over time, an increasing number of tribal members have moved from the reservation. While at the turn of the century roughly ten percent lived off the reservation, by 1958 over fifty percent did so (Stern 1966:185). Of these absentee tribal members, about a quarter lived in Klamath County in towns near the reservation, while others "were scattered throughout areas of southern Oregon and northern California where Klamath had long had ties" (Stem 1966:185).

The most dramatic event in the history of the Klamath Reservation came in 1954, with the passage of Public Law 587, which terminated the Klamath Reservation, and ended the Klamath tribe as a federally recognized entity. (The Western Oregon Termination Act, also passed in 1954, terminated among other groups the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, both of which included descendants of Takelma, Molala, and Upper Umpqua peoples, and the Cow Creeks, a group of Takelma descendants.)

The policy of termination--while ostensibly intended to benefit Indian peoples by allowing them to escape from a stifling federal paternalism--proved extremely destructive (see Nash 1988:270-72). In the Klamath case, compensation was most commonly administered through an elaborate series of court-mandated trusteeships. Most of the former reservation lands were purchased by the federal government (at below-market prices), from which the Winema National Forest was created in 1961. As one team of economists judged the results, "It appears that individual Klamath received few lasting economic benefits from termination. For the majority, termination simply meant substitution of private for federal paternalism," privately administered trusts replacing federal bureaucracies (Trulove and bunting 1971:17).

Despite these events, a tribal political organization survived the termination process. In the 1970s and 80s the tribal organization achieved a number of victories which strengthened the capacity of the Klamath to endure as a people. In 1974 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Klamath fishing and hunting rights granted by treaty survived the termination process (Kimbol v. Callaghan). In 1979 another legal victory guaranteed minimum stream flows in the Klamath River to protect fish and wildlife. In 1986 Congress rescinded the 1954 termination by reestablishing the Klamath as a federally recognized tribe, thus making the tribe and its members eligible for wide range of medical, educational, and economic opportunities (Schonchin 1987).

Belief and Ritual of Crater Lake

Native peoples of the region traveled to the Crater Lake area for many purposes. The Park environs were used for both hunting and gathering. Huckleberry Mountain, an important gathering site for the Klamath, lies about ten miles southwest of the lake. Nonetheless, the primary significance of Crater Lake appears to have been as a place of power and danger, renowned as a spirit quest site, yet also feared for the dangerous beings residing in the lake.

For the Klamath, spirit power could be found in many sources, among these "such natural features as mountains, streams, rocks, or even landmarks like Crater Lake" (Spencer 1952b:218). The ritual significance of giwas, or Crater Lake (Barker 1963b: 145), reflects a more general Klamath understanding of the natural world, involving not only reverence but the capacity for significant interaction with certain mountains, lakes, and streams, as the individual sought comfort, assistance, or power. One Klamath woman, speaking in the late 1940s, noted that,

those old Indians had a lot of sense. They kind of felt at home around here and they would get a lift from just talking to the mountains and lakes. It was like praying and it made them feel at peace. (Spencer 1952b:223)

As one Klamath individual noted, Crater Lake was a particularly dangerous site for the spirit quest. (1) Gaining a vision of the supernatural beings residing in the lake was a major goal of that quest (Spencer 1952b:222). The seeker would often swim at night, underwater, to encounter the spirits lurking in the depths (Spier 1930:98). Leslie Spier commented regarding the father of one of his consultants, "having lost a child, he went swimming in Crater lake; before evening he had become a shaman" (Spier 1930:96). The quest for such spirits required courage and resolution:

He must not be frightened even if he sees something moving under the water. prays before diving, "I want to be a shaman. Give me power. Catch me. I need the power." (Spier 1930:96)

A fuller account of the quest for spirit power is recorded in a manuscript by Jeremiah Curtin:

Indians used to believe. Doctors said "we begin to be doctors by swimming and camping on top the mountains where there is a pond of lake and breaking willows and piling rocks on top the mountains and swimming in the lake." On ***** Mountain they used to camp. And at Crater Lake they used to say they got to the water and swam. And after swimming and camping and keeping awake all night piling rocks and breaking up twigs and tying them together till daylight [then] they would sleep. They sit down and slept, then they would dream. And whatever they dreamed of, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear or Wolf, Coyote, Skunk or all kinds of birds. Whatever they dreamed of became their medicine and they doctored with it and snakes, fishes[,] everything became their medicine. (Curtin, n.d.) (2)

An elderly Klamath woman recounted in the late 1940s her experience of seeing a spirit being on the lake:

When I was young, I went up to Crater Lake with a woman I knew. She tied my eyes and led my horse. ... Then she said, "Untie your eyes," and I nearly fell off the horse. I saw a man standing on the water far away, just like in the Bible. He scared me so, I don't know who that was, but I like to think of that man now. (Spencer 1952b:222)

In other Klamath accounts the floor of the lake contains a mythical world:

People were stolen and taken down into Crater lake by beings there. Some say they have found no water in the lake. Instead there were rocks as big as trees and deep tunnels in the bottom. There are animals, snakes, and a sort of people who live at (or in) the ocean. (Spier 1930:98)

Individuals also undertook strenuous and dangerous climbing along the caldera wall. Spier's informants noted a site termed makwalks: a point of rock projecting over Crater lake from the western cliff. The seeker clambers down and piles rocks on the point. (Spier 1930:98)

Individuals would often start at the western rim of Crater Lake and run down the wall of the crater to the lake. One who could reach the lake without falling was thought to have superior spirit powers. Sometimes such quests were undertaken by groups. (3)

The Modoc also made spirit quest trips to Crater Lake. Verne Ray noted that "most quest sites were within Modoc territory but sometimes distant trips were made. Crater Lake, in Klamath territory, was not infrequently visited" (Ray 1963:81).

The Crater Lake area was also significant for the Cow Creeks. Although used for hunting and gathering, the Crater Lake area had spiritual importance as well. The lake was regarded with both reverence and fear, because the souls of evil persons were believed to inhabit it. One informant commented that her grandmother would travel there for "quiet communion." (4)

The historian A. G. Walling, apparently referring to the Upper Umpquas, noted in 1884 that,

In the past, none but medicine men visited [Crater Lake]. When one of the tribe felt called upon to become a teacher and healer, he spent several weeks on the shore of the lake in fasting, in communion with the dead, and in prayer. (in Bakken 1973:17)

Myths of Crater Lake

There are several Klamath and Upper Umpqua myths extant regarding Crater Lake. Only one, however, the Klamath myth of Le*w and Sqel, can be traced to versions in the original language, rather than to westernized and possibly corrupt retellings by settlers or amateur folklorists.

The appears in five published versions, and in an unpublished translation. (5) Le*w is "the monster who dwells in Crater Lake .... rather octopoidal and of a dirty white color" (Barker 1963b:215). The myth relates his battle with Sqel (who also appears as Old Marten or Old Mink), a great figure of Klamath myth:

a culture transformer, giving laws, destroying evil beings, teaching subsistence techniques, and generally preparing the world for the myth age humans. (Barker 1963b:389)

The myth opens with Sqel/Mink/Old Marten and his friend Weasel. They are tricked by the beautiful but wicked daughter of Le*w, who ingratiates herself with Mink (or in an alternate version, Weasel), and tears out his heart. She then takes the heart to Le*w's people at Crater Lake, who play ball with it. Weasel runs for help to Gmokamc, the Klamath creator figure, who advises Weasel, and then proceeds with the help of various allies to recover Mink's heart. Mink revives, but Le*w now carries him off to Crater Lake, and is about to cut him to pieces and feed him to his children, the crawfish. However, Mink outwits Le*w and slays him, cutting up his body and (pretending the pieces belong to Mink's own corpse) feeding them to the crawfish. Finally Mink throws Le*w's head into Crater Lake, naming it correctly. Stern's account concludes:

Then he [Mink] threw into the water all this, heart, windpipe-and-lungs, and liver. "Here's Mink's heart, windpipe-and-lungs, and liver!" Now the Crawfish came and ate all that. "Then here's Lao's [Le*w's] head!" Bawak sound of head splashing into the water. The Crawfish recognizing their father scattered in all directions. Then that head of Lao's lodged there. This is Wizard Island. (Stern, trans. 1951:5)

Ella Clark includes in her collection three other Crater Lake myths, attributed to Klamath sources. In "The Origin of Crater Lake" (Clark 1953:53-55) describes a battle between the Chief of the Below World and the Chief of the Above World. The opening to the underworld was found in a vast mountain ("the high mountain that used to be"). In a development recalling the myth of Hades and Persephone, the Chief of the Below World falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a Klamath chief. She spurns him, and in revenge the Chief of the Below World tries to destroy the Klamath with fire. However, the Chief of the Above World pities the humans, and does battle with his underworld counterpart. Amid vast explosions and fire the Chief of the Below World is driven underground, and the mountain collapses upon him, creating Crater Lake.

"Crater Lake and the Two Hunters" emphasizes the lake as a realm inhabited by spirits of the dead, dangerous to the living, and safely accessible only to powerful shamans. Two hunters, defying this taboo, travel to Crater Lake, and are destroyed (Clark 1953:58-60). "Another Crater Lake Legend" has much the same theme. A group of hunters discovers the lake. One man is greatly drawn to it, returning again and again to swim in its waters and to camp on the overlooking cliffs. In this way he acquires great spirit power. Ultimately, however, he is killed by one of the spirit creatures which dwells in the lake (Clark 1953:60-61).

At least one myth of Crater Lake from the Upper Umpqua area is extant. "The Mountain with a Hole in the Top" was related by a Cow Creek informant, Ellen Crispen, to W. K. Peery (in Bakken 1973:13-17). Long ago the animal-people and the man-people spoke the same language, and were friends. They lived in the shadow of a great mountain, perpetually covered with snow. An evil chief arose among the man-people, and taught others to kill the animals. Bear, chief of the animal-people, protested to Tamanous, Old Man God. Angered, Tamanous created a great wind, which uprooted trees, and made the mountain explode. All that remained was a crater, which filled with water. The evil man-people were killed, and their souls were sent to dwell in lodges at the bottom of the lake. (6)

Summary

Crater Lake exemplifies the concept of a sacred place or sacred landscape, embodying in a specific location the qualities of mystery, power, and danger. (7) Traditionally Crater Lake served as an important site for Indian spirit quest activities, and continues to be used for spiritual purposes today. (8)

A sacred landscape entails a correlation of physical place and cultural meaning, existing within a larger body of tradition. Its physical elements (a piled rock site, Wizard Island, the lake bottom) have associations with various culturally postulated events, some in a mythic time (for example the myth of Le*w and Sqel), others (such as spirit quest rituals) still occurring today. Traditional knowledge of such a landscape--of the myths which recount its origins, and the rituals by which its powers are encountered--shapes one's experience. Some appreciation of the myths and rituals associated with Crater Lake allows the Euro-American visitor to have some understanding of the traditional Indian experience of Crater Lake National Park, of its spiritual powers and the possibilities for personal transformation which it affords.