Multnomah Indian Tribe Location

Multnomah. Significance unknown.

Also called:
   Wappato, originally the Cree or Chippewa name of a bulbous root (Sagittaria variabilis) used as food by the Indians of the west and northwest It means literally "white fungus." It passed into the Chinook jargon with the meaning "potato" and became applied to Sauvies Island in Columbia River, at the mouth of the Willamette, and the Indian tribes living on or near it. It was so used by Lewis and Clark, though there was little or no political connection between the numerous bands so designated.

Connections

The Multnomah belonged to the Clackamas division of the Chinookan linguistic stock.

Location

As above indicated, on and near Sauvies Island.

Subdivisions

Cathlacomatup, on the south side of Sauvies Island on a slough of Willamette
River.

Cathlacumup on the west bank of the lower mouth of the Willamette River and
claiming as their territory the bank of the Columbia from there to Deer Island.

Cathlanaquiah, on the southwest side of Sauvies Island.

Clahnaquah, on Sauvies Island.
Claninnata, on the southwest side of Sauvies Island.
Kathlaminimin, at the south end of Sauvies Island, later said to have become
associated with the Cathlacumup and Nemoit.
Multnomah, on the upper end of Sauvies Island.
Nechacokee, on the south bank of Columbia River a few miles below Quicksand
(Sandy) River.
Nemalquinner, at the falls of the Willamette but with a temporary house on the
north end of Sauvies Island.
Shoto, on the north side of Columbia River, a short distance from it and nearly
opposite the mouth of the Willamette.

Population

Mooney (1928) gives the population of all of these bands of the Multnomah as 3,600 in 1780. Their descendants are probably included among the 315 Indians returned as Chinook by the census of 1910. (See Clackamas.)

Connection in which they have become noted

There is a county, town, and river channel of the name in Oregon. The name "Wappato" secondarily applied to the Multnomah besides its former use as a name of Sauvies Island, is given, with the spelling Sapato, to a lake and place near Portland in Oregon-the latter in Multnomah County, the former between Yamhill and Washington Counties and to a place in the State of Washington.

• Northwestern Fights and Fighters

• Chief Joseph in Wallowa County, Oregon

• Wokas, A Primitive Food of the Klamath Indians

• Indian Stories and Legends of the Stillaguamish and Allied Tribes

• War with the Snake, Bannock and Paiute, Umatilla County, Oregon

• Klamath Indian Tribe

• Modoc Indian Tribe

• Yaquina Indian Tribe

Notes About the Book:

Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.

Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.

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