Mount Coffin
Encyclopedia
Mount Coffin is a promontory
that existed in Longview
, Cowlitz County, Washington, USA
. It served as native burial grounds for the Skillute, a Chinook Jargon
speaking tribe who practiced above-ground interment of their deceased. The memaloose illahee, or cemetery
was named by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton
of George Vancouver
's expedition aboard the HMS Chatham
in 1792. The landmark was leveled for its gravel during construction of the Port of Longview
.
and Cowlitz River
, which coagulated at the merging point of these two entities. The material consisted of basalt
sediment, mainly material derived from volcanic ash.
s, containing dead bodies; to this was given the name of Mount Coffin.”
In November 1805, William Clark reported the hill as a "very remarkable Knob rising from the edge of the water". He said it was about 80 feet (24.4 m) high, and "about 200 paces around at its Base."
William Clark described interaction with the indigenous population: trading beaver skins, berries
, salmon
, and wappato. Merriwether Lewis commented between their variance in speech from the tribes that lived farther inland. Due to the Skillute’s trading patterns along the Pacific coast
they spoke a different pidgin that adopted coastal variances than the tribes who lived farther inland.
In 1835, John Kirk Townsend
explored Mount Coffin, he reports:
Because the Skillute practiced infant head flattening, postmortem examination of the cerebrum became a point of interest by physicians. In 1825, John Scouler found an opportunity “to procure a specimen of their compressed skulls.” Again in 1847, a bateau captain described as a “curio hunter”, stripped “valuables from a body on Coffin Rock.”
Another contentious point of contact is described:
Fever, pestilence, and disease ravaged among the living indigenous population. Symptoms described by one trader representing McLoughlin, a chief agent at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Fort Vancouver, Washington
, about 40 miles (64.4 km) from Mount Coffin, were descriptions characteristic of malaria
, an endemic disease with fatal termination.
At the end of World War I, Robert Alexander Long
purchased from the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company
a 23851 acres (97 km²) tract in southwestern Washington that rest adjacent to Mount Coffin; it contained nearly 2500000000 board feet (5,899,342.5 m³) of timber, he soon expanded to more than 70000 acres (283.3 km²). In 1922 studies of possible mill sites indicated: to dike the valley located at the mouth of the Cowlitz River would be economical. Rather than executing these plans, the area was developed into a city that would host investors; the city is now Longview, Washington. In June 1924, the Long–Bell lumber mill opened as the largest lumber producer in the world.
Frederick Weyerhaeuser opened a mill adjacent to the Long-Bell
operation, encompassing Mount Coffin. Shortly after, in 1929, Mount Coffin was dynamited and quarried. After cutting 8700000000 board feet (20,529,711.9 m³) of lumber, Long’s two great sawmills were dismantled in 1960.
Weyerhaeuser continued pulp and paperboard manufacturing. In 1964, a federal suit was filed against Weyerhaeuser in Longview, Washington, for “discharge of refuse into navigable waterways.”
In 1979 the United States General Accounting Office
listed the Weyerhaeuser Company in Longview as a potential superfund site
caused by metal contamination
. Since then, Weyerhaeuser Company
has innovated ways of utilizing clarifiers, biomass fuels, hog fuel, and newsprint sludges to create steam
and cogenerated electricity, from such organic wastes, to decrease pollution
.
As of 2009, Weyerhaeuser reported “a net loss of $1.212 billion for the fourth quarter, or $5.73 per share, on net sales from continuing operations of $1.8 billion.”
Promontory
Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
that existed in Longview
Longview, Washington
Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the "Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area", which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 36,648 at the time of the 2010 census and is the largest city in Cowlitz County...
, Cowlitz County, Washington, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It served as native burial grounds for the Skillute, a Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
speaking tribe who practiced above-ground interment of their deceased. The memaloose illahee, or cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
was named by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton
William Robert Broughton
William Robert Broughton was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS Chatham as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through the Pacific Ocean led by Captain George Vancouver in the early 1790s.-With Vancouver:In...
of George Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
's expedition aboard the HMS Chatham
HMS Chatham (1788)
HMS Chatham was a Royal Navy survey brig that accompanied HMS Discovery on George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his 1791–1795 expedition. Chatham was built by King, of Dover and launched in early 1788...
in 1792. The landmark was leveled for its gravel during construction of the Port of Longview
Port of Longview
The Port of Longview is a deep-water port authority located in Longview, on the Columbia River in southwest Washington, United States. It was established in 1921 by Washington state law, and operates as a unit of local government. The port is overseen by a locally elected, three-member board of...
.
Physical observation
Mount Coffin was 240 feet (73.2 m) tall and was formed by sediment carried by the Columbia RiverColumbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and Cowlitz River
Cowlitz River
The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens....
, which coagulated at the merging point of these two entities. The material consisted of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
sediment, mainly material derived from volcanic ash.
Prehistory and Expeditionary Times
In 1792, Lieutenant William Robert Broughton of Vancouver’s expedition aboard the HMS Chatham explored the lower Columbia; he recorded: “a remarkable mount, about which were placed several canoeCanoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s, containing dead bodies; to this was given the name of Mount Coffin.”
“Coffin Mountain was so called because of the Indian burying ground which was observed there where the dead were placed, as was the custom, aloft in primitive coffins supported by stakes.”
In November 1805, William Clark reported the hill as a "very remarkable Knob rising from the edge of the water". He said it was about 80 feet (24.4 m) high, and "about 200 paces around at its Base."
William Clark described interaction with the indigenous population: trading beaver skins, berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
, and wappato. Merriwether Lewis commented between their variance in speech from the tribes that lived farther inland. Due to the Skillute’s trading patterns along the Pacific coast
Pacific Coast
A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...
they spoke a different pidgin that adopted coastal variances than the tribes who lived farther inland.
In 1835, John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend was an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector.Townsend was born in Philadelphia and trained as a physician and pharmacist. He developed an interest in natural history in general and bird collecting in particular...
explored Mount Coffin, he reports:
“[the burial site] consisted of a great number of canoes containing bodies of Indians, each being carefully wrapped in blankets, and supplied with many of his personal effects in the form of weapons and implements...The same provident care for the deceased that prevails among the hunting tribes of the prairies is observable among the piscatorial tribes of the rivers and sea-coast. Among the latter the Indian is wrapped in his mantle of skins, laid in his canoe with his paddle, his fishing-spear, and other implements beside him, and placed aloft on some rock or eminence overlooking the river, or bay, or lake that he had frequented. He is fitted out to launch away upon those placid streams…which are prepared in the next world for those who have acquitted themselves as good sons, good fathers…during their mortal sojourn.”
Because the Skillute practiced infant head flattening, postmortem examination of the cerebrum became a point of interest by physicians. In 1825, John Scouler found an opportunity “to procure a specimen of their compressed skulls.” Again in 1847, a bateau captain described as a “curio hunter”, stripped “valuables from a body on Coffin Rock.”
“In August 1841, Lieutenant Charles WilkesCharles WilkesCharles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...
traveled down the river as part of the U.S. Exploring ExpeditionUnited States Exploring ExpeditionThe United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...
and he used Mount Coffin to make astronomical observations. One of Wilkes’s campfires accidentally destroyed the burial canoes on the rock.”
Fever, pestilence, and disease ravaged among the living indigenous population. Symptoms described by one trader representing McLoughlin, a chief agent at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Fort Vancouver, Washington
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
, about 40 miles (64.4 km) from Mount Coffin, were descriptions characteristic of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, an endemic disease with fatal termination.
The Industrial Revolution
In 1900 Frederick Weyerhaeuser bought 900000 acres (3,642.2 km²) of railroad grant land, looked favorably towards prospects in the Northwestern United States and soon began western operations.At the end of World War I, Robert Alexander Long
Robert A. Long
Robert Alexander Long was a lumber baron, developer, investor, newspaper owner, millionaire, and philanthropist. He lived most of his life in Kansas City, Missouri and founded the city of Longview, Washington and the town of Longville, Louisiana....
purchased from the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
a 23851 acres (97 km²) tract in southwestern Washington that rest adjacent to Mount Coffin; it contained nearly 2500000000 board feet (5,899,342.5 m³) of timber, he soon expanded to more than 70000 acres (283.3 km²). In 1922 studies of possible mill sites indicated: to dike the valley located at the mouth of the Cowlitz River would be economical. Rather than executing these plans, the area was developed into a city that would host investors; the city is now Longview, Washington. In June 1924, the Long–Bell lumber mill opened as the largest lumber producer in the world.
Frederick Weyerhaeuser opened a mill adjacent to the Long-Bell
Long-Bell Lumber Company
In 1887, Robert A. Long and Victor Bell formed the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Columbus, Kansas. The Long-Bell Lumber Company branched out using balanced vertical integration to control all aspects of lumber from the sawmills to the retail lumber yard...
operation, encompassing Mount Coffin. Shortly after, in 1929, Mount Coffin was dynamited and quarried. After cutting 8700000000 board feet (20,529,711.9 m³) of lumber, Long’s two great sawmills were dismantled in 1960.
“The old Long-Bell Mill sheds – now derelict – still stand near the port, difficult to reach yet spectacular because they are so enormous…[The sheds] are each about 600 feet long. They are built of massive timbers representative of the original, huge-scale forest of western Washington. Such buildings will never again be built.”
Weyerhaeuser continued pulp and paperboard manufacturing. In 1964, a federal suit was filed against Weyerhaeuser in Longview, Washington, for “discharge of refuse into navigable waterways.”
In 1979 the United States General Accounting Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
listed the Weyerhaeuser Company in Longview as a potential superfund site
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
caused by metal contamination
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
. Since then, Weyerhaeuser Company
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
has innovated ways of utilizing clarifiers, biomass fuels, hog fuel, and newsprint sludges to create steam
Steam
Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
and cogenerated electricity, from such organic wastes, to decrease pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
.
As of 2009, Weyerhaeuser reported “a net loss of $1.212 billion for the fourth quarter, or $5.73 per share, on net sales from continuing operations of $1.8 billion.”
External links
- The Columbia River – Mount Coffin, Washington
- Lower Chinook and Clatsop Disease and Burial Customs
- City of Longview, Washington: History
- Matte 26 Warre Collection – AAS Drawings Collection Inventory: Henry James, Sir (1819-1898). Mount Coffin and Mount St. Helen’s (Volcanic) Columbia River; Watercolor. (6 7/8 x 9 5/8 in) (17 ½ x 24 ½ cm). ca. 1845. [Imprint Society number: 35]
![Matte 26 Warre Collection – AAS Drawings Collection Inventory: Henry James, Sir (1819-1898). Mount Coffin and Mount St. Helen’s (Volcanic) Columbia River; Watercolor. (6 7/8 x 9 5/8 in) (17 ½ x 24 ½ cm). ca. 1845. [Imprint Society number: 35]](http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Drawings/drawings/warre26.jpg){kind=link}