Song of the NeCus’ Ancestors
On a recent Friday night, at a packed theater in Cannon Beach, the drummer of a rock band beat out the thump-thump behind fused sounds of an amped-up guitar and a meditative wooden flute. This alt-Native band kicked off a weekend celebrating Native American heritage, during which representatives of Oregon’s north coast indigenous cultures spoke about their ancestors and their ways of living on the lands around Tillamook Head. These lands were once home to Clatsop and Nehalem people, and the weekend was a reminder that their thriving tribal culture resides now in but a few remaining descendants who are struggling to be heard.
When people are ripped from their way of life, their ancestral heart is left behind in the land. Descendants yearn for the time when they can return. For two days after the concert, tribal members from Clatsop-Nehalem in northwest Oregon, Metis in Manitoba, Koyukon Athabaskan/Muscogee Creek in Alaska, and Ponca in Nebraska shared stories of their people being purged from their lands to make way for White expansion. Tears flowed as they described death in villages ravaged by disease and war, forced marches to reservations where they starved in squalor, and children torn from their parents to be harshly re-trained into White culture. And the lies. The lies upon lies perpetuated by false promises and treaties that lasted only as long as was convenient to the invading Euro-Americans.
Locally, the destruction of north coast indigenous culture is prominently displayed on a Roman-style victory column high atop Coxcomb Hill in Astoria. Built in the tradition of ancient columns which memorialize heroic victories of expanding empires, it depicts Euro-American determination and bravery in the conquest of indigenous peoples who inhabited the northern Oregon coast for thousands of years. Pictorial scenes of natives, explorers, traders, settlers, and empire builders work their way up the column representing America’s eradication of the Clatsop, Nehalem, and Chinook peoples in the name of manifest destiny.
The Astoria Column artwork depicts a turning point in the centuries-old tradition of Clatsop-Nehalem life with the arrival of the Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The Corps did not come to trade like those who had arrived earlier by ship, but rather came to explore the land and claim it for an expanding nation. The local people did not know what to make of the Corps and mostly left them to winter alone where they had posted themselves near the mouth of the Columbia River.
On one occasion, in January of 1806, Captain Clark, along with a small party from the Corps, stood atop Tillamook Head. They were a day’s-plus walk south of their encampment. Gazing at the scene below, Clark later wrote in his diary: We set out early and proceeded to the top of the mountain facing the open sea. Villages of Nehalem and Clatsop can be seen below. One is a village at the mouth of a small river near the place the whale is said to be. Having heard of the whale’s beaching, Clark had followed a native trail over the headland to barter with villagers for meat and blubber.
The place where the whale is said to be is now the town of Cannon Beach. In the town is a former school on the land that once supported the village at the mouth of a small river. The village was NeCus’, one of many belonging to the Clatsop-Nehalem people who had lived along the coast for countless generations. The old school and its grounds at the mouth of Ecola Creek are being restored by the town as a welcoming place in the tradition of NeCus’.
Tradition says that the presence of NeCus’ ancestors lies upon this land that once welcomed weary travelers with food and rest. The ancestors remain to guide their descendants in the care and nourishment of land and people. In 1806, all who came to honor the dead whale left with a share, including Clark and his small band. Now, over 200 years later, there will again be a sharing of food, ritual, and culture among locals and visitors at this welcoming place.
Descendants of NeCus’ have worked for several years with residents of Cannon Beach to recognize their ancestors and their way of life at the site of the former school. Countless generations cared for this land. The NeCus’ villagers valued all that it provided for their livelihood. It remains a sacred place and holds the hearts left behind by the villagers who were forced from it by White settlement.
With the current NeCus’ project, the struggle to be heard is finding some fruition for Clatsop-Nehalem people as they support the school’s restoration as an educational facility that will honor their history and culture. Like the alt-Native concert that fused modern and ancient music into one sound, the NeCus’ project will fuse modern town life with the ancient ways of the ancestors who once cared for this place and welcomed all who sought refuge on their journeys.
The thump-thump behind the new welcoming center is the heartbeat of those who came before, who offer their descendants guidance through an ancient song that lies upon the grounds of this sacred place. With the blessing of the ancestors, a fusion of new and ancient into a modern air will lead to one humanity under the sun for this ancient site. There is hope for such unity with the NeCus’ project. May it succeed so that all who visit in the future can leave with knowledge in their hearts of an inclusive and welcoming world.