The Ozette Prairies of Olympic National Park - Natural Resources ...

(a) Trail maintenance. Keeping up the trail to the prairies other than simply by use. According to
Ram Singh [p.25], “The trail to a prairie was kept up by the people who used it.” Other trails resulted
from the wear and tear of use, but those to the prairie were actually maintained. It is clear from Hal
George’s comment below that to maintain a trail was a departure from the Quileute old people’s usual
patterns.
Now, the old people said bitsatsqal yix t’siq’ati (the land takes care of itself) and that means everything.
They didn’t plant gardens or build fences to keep deer out. They didn’t make la’wqwol or lotoqwli
(roads/trails or bridges) never chopped down trees to cross rivers. (Powell NB 1978:71)
QUILEUTE MYTHIC REFERENCES TO THE PRAIRIES
The Prairies in Quileute Mythic Narrative- The importance of prairies to the traditional Quileute is ap-
parent in their many mentions in Quileute myth and in the degree to which the prairies were considered
to be the haunt and home of spiritual beings. Because spirit powers were considered to be both near
and responsible for the many benefits to be reaped from the prairies, the old people felt an obligation to
demonstrate their gratitude for the gifts and enabling powers. Thus, the prairies were places for prayer,
cleansing and ritual. And, in return the people were able to see the results in their success at hunting
and foraging. The old people felt that spiritual approval and assistance was most clearly visible through
successful hunting and provision gathering. If you pleased the spirit powers, they made you skillful and
successful. And, since the hunting and gathering done in the prairies was critical to making it through
the annual cycle, the spirits were seldom out of mind while camping in the prairies or making foraging
daytrips. As we know, the spirit world was natural and real, but simply couldn’t be seen. The old people
had heard the stories and learned the traits of the various prairie spiritual beings since childhood. A visit
to the prairies was a trip to a powerful part of their territory where unpredictable things could happen
and the unexpected was not surprising. As Hal George would smile and say, “Hixas k’itaqli xaba okil chi
yaqw. K’idiloqwalich chikwliqaqlas o cha’a yaqwo’wa.” (It’s different up on the prairie. You feel-strange
too-greatly-different in the prairie.)
Quileute cultural narrative: myth, legend and folkloric accounts - In this section I attempt to discuss what
we know about the mythic history of the Quileute prairies that explained their special spiritual qualities
to the old people’s satisfaction. I will be treating only myth that refers to prairies or is located at least
partially in prairies. The cultural narratives that we refer to were primarily recorded from the following
sources.
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