Lionel Youst and William R. Seaburg recount the compelling life story of Coquelle Thompson, an Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian little known except by the Siletz Reservation community and a handful of visiting academics. Thompson's life spanned nearly a century, from 1849 to 1946. During his lifetime, he worked along the Oregon coast as farmer, hunting/fishing guide, teamster, tribal policeman, and, perhaps most importantly, he served as an expert witness on Upper Coquille and reservation life and culture for anthropologists.

While captain of the tribal police, Thompson was assigned to investigate the Warm House Dance, the Siletz Indian Reservation version of the famous Ghost Dance, which had spread among the Indians of many tribes during the latter 1800s. Thompson became a proselytizer for the Warm House Dance, helping to carry its message and performance from Siletz along the Oregon coast as far south as Coos Bay.

Thompson lived through the conclusion of the Rogue River Indian War of 1855-56 and his tribe's subsequent removal from southern Oregon to the Siletz Reservation. During his lifetime, the Siletz Reservation went from one million acres to seventy-seven individual allotments and four sections of tribal timber. The reservation was legislated out of existence less than a decade after he died.

Youst and Seaburg also examine the works of six anthropologists who interviewed Thompson over the years: J. Owen Dorsey, Cora Du Bois, Philip Drucker, Elizabeth Derr Jacobs, Jack Marr, and John Peabody Harrington.

Coquelle Thompson (1849-1946) was an Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian from along the Oregon coast. During his lifetime, he worked along as farmer, hunting/fishing guide, teamster, tribal policeman, and served as expert witness on Upper Coquille and reservation life and culture for anthropologists. While captain of the tribal police, Thompson was assigned to investigate the Warm House Dance, the Siletz Indian Reservation version of the famous Ghost Dance. Thompson became a proselytizer for the Warm House Dance, helping to carry its message and performance from Siletz along the Oregon coast to as far south as Coos Bay. Thompson lived through the conclusion of the Rogue River Indian War of 1855-56 and his tribe's subsequent removal from southern Oregon to the Siletz Reservation. During his lifetime, the Siletz Reservation went from one million acres to seventy-seven individual allotments and four sections of tribal timber. Lionel Youst and William R. Seaburg include an examination of the works of six anthropologists who interviewed Thompson over the years: J. Owen Dorsey, Cora Du Bois, Philip Drucker, Elizabeth Derr Jacobs, Jack Marr, and John Peabody Harrington.

The rich oral traditions of the Athabaskan Indians from southwestern Oregon are showcased in these pages for the first time. This volume features vivid and humorous tales of familiar Tricksters: Coyote, known for his unusual sexual prowess and escapades that often go awry; the vain and gullible Grizzly Bear; and Raccoon, often greedy and ever elusive. The collection also includes the less familiar but all-too-human stories of Pitch Woman, Little Man, the unicorn-like Hollering-Like-a-Person, and other local figures, all of which add to the wealth of Native oral literature in the Pacific Northwest. In 1935 Elizabeth D. Jacobs conducted ethnographic fieldwork with survivors of several Athabaskan cultures living on the Siletz Reservation. Her work preserves the forty-seven stories recorded here as recounted by Upper Coquille consultant Coquelle Thompson Sr., an accomplished storyteller who lived through the Rogue River Wars of 1855-56. His tribal community was evicted from its homeland and resettled with other Athabaskan groups on the Siletz Reservation, where he lived for ninety years. This volume offers a behind-the-scenes look at the collection of oral accounts, a sketch of Upper Coquille Athabaskan culture, an examination of Thompson's storytelling, and extended analyses of four stories, including "Pitch Woman." The reader is encouraged to "listen" to the stories with an ear attuned both to the storyteller himself and to the stories' own cultural context.

First published in 1934, this collection of tales was recorded and edited by Thelma Adamson (1901-83), a student of Franz Boas and one of the first women to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in the Pacific Northwest. A major contribution to our knowledge of western Washington Salish oral traditions, "Folk-Tales of the Coast Salish" contains 190 texts from nineteen consultants--most collected in English or in English translation. The 155 stories represent Upper Chehalis and Cowlitz Salish narrative traditions, primarily myths and tales, and constitute the largest published body of oral literature for either of these groups. Adamson included as many as four variants of the same tale-type, and Adele Froehlich prepared a useful forty-three-page section of abstracts with comparative notes from eight regional text collections. "Folk-Tales of the Coast Salish" provides a rich data source for those interested in the content and comparative analysis of Native texts told in English. With few exceptions, the tales refer to the time "when all the animals were people." This new edition enhances Adamson's seminal work with the inclusion of a biographical sketch of Adamson and of her friend and noted ethnomusicologist George Herzog, who produced the appended music transcriptions.