Takhoma: Ethnography of Mount Rainier National Park by Allan H. Smith

Abstract

movement. Partially,he credits this to thedif ferencebetween theirexperiences in an era of political deadlock and his development during a timeof extraordinary political consensus. "I was a product of times thatfewnow could even imagine,"he observes (p. 356). In theThick of it is a very chatty, informal book, which isboth a strengthand itsgreatest weakness. Although itcovers a fascinatingarray of events and personalities, thememories are mainly anecdotal. This isnot an introspective account, and overall it does not emphasize the broader historical context of personal experiences,with some valuable exceptions in thefinal chapters. The references in thebook cite almost exclusively works composed by the author himself. It is not the purpose of thisvolume to document thedevelopment of modern environmentalism? that isavailable fromother scholarly sources, including some earlier articles byMcCloskey ? but thebook does serve as a colorful complement to the study of political strategizing and historical eras within that movement. Kevin R. Marsh Idaho State University TAKHOMA:ETHNOGRAPHY OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONALPARK by AllanH. Smith Washington State University Press, Pullman, 2006. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes, bibliography, index. 182pages, $22.95 paper. In 1963,Washington State University an thropologist Allan H. Smith (1913-1999) was commissioned to study and report on the aboriginal use of the area encompassed by theMount Rainier National Park (MRNP). In under amonth, Smithmanaged to review the relevant literatureand to interviewabout fifteeninformantsborn before 1963and living on the Yakama Reservation nearYakima, aswell as a handful ofNatives livingon theNisqually Reservation near Olympia. Takhoma: Ethnography of Mount Rainier National Park is an edited version of Smith's 1964 report, supplemented with commentar ies by cultural anthropologist Barbara Lane (UniversityofVictoria, Canada), archaeologist Richard Daugherty (emeritus professor of the University of Washington), andMRNP archae ologist Greg Burchard. After those interesting historical notes and updates, the bulk of the book iscomposed of seven chapters,which are well-organized but of very different lengths, reflecting the relative emphases of Smith's findings. Chapter 1, the introduction, is a twenty page review of the geography and ecology of the MRNP (including theuseful identification of twenty-seven important passes and alpine meadows), an overview of Smith's research design, and an introduction to place-names and tribalboundaries. Chapter 2,"NativeTopy nomy," is a five-page discussion of Native place names. That discussion clearlyshows that most local groups identifiedMt. Rainier as some varietyof thephonetic cta(k)-o-mah', meaning, roughly, 'mountain' or 'the mountain,' which Stevens determined was "used precisely aswe use the term 'mount'." (p. 25). Chapter 3, "Tribal Identity and Bound aries," is one of the book's two hearts, comprising nearly half its length, detailing in nearly seventy pages such esoteric (but necessary) issues as "Problems in Bound ary Definition," "The Concept of Boundary inMountain Areas," and "Tribal Boundary Changes Through Time." Each of these is sues is awell-known and fearsome hydra for ethnographic researchers and othersworking to project historic land-use patterns into the abyss of the pre-contact period. Having said this,Smithmakes convincing arguments that his informants provided useful information on aboriginal land use. The chapter is very technical and goes into great detail; it isnot forgeneral readers. Figure 3.4 isa useful visual summary of theregions of the MRNP claimed by thefive main historic-era groups concerned Reviews 147 ? the Muckleshoot, Yakama, Taidnapam, Nisqually, and Puyallup. Beginningwith Chapter 4, "Village Sites and Structure,"Smith revealswhat his informants knew about specificNative uses of the MRNP region. Because most use was related to limited termactivities such as hunting or vision quests, permanent villageswere essentially absent and substantial structures were also reportedlyfew (mostwere on the order of drying racks, or temporary sweat-lodges), the chapter is less than tenpages long. Chapter 5, "Economic and Other Uses," is the second heart of the book, a fifty-page treatment of the great variety of short-term activities thatwere historically carried out within today's MRNP's boundaries, domi nated by hunting (deer, elk,bear, some birds, and marmots), meat-smoking, and gathering all manner of seasonally-specific resources (mainly berries). But, importantly, other activities took people into themountain en vironment and even above treeline, including vision quests, trade voyages through various passes, and the collection of a wide variety of plants formedicines, basketry, and other purposes. A...