E-text prepared by Emmy and Ben Beasley, Audrey Longhurst, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14881-h.htm or 14881-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/8/8/14881/14881-h/14881-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/8/8/14881/14881-h.zip) THE LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE ON THE COLUMBIA A Tale of the Pioneers of the Great Northwest by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH Author of the Zigzag Books ILLUSTRATED 1890 [Illustration] New York D. Appleton and Company [Illustration: _Gretchen at the Potlatch Feast._] PREFACE. A year or more ago one of the librarians in charge of the young people's books in the Boston Public Library called my attention to the fact that there were few books of popular information in regard to the pioneers of the great Northwest. The librarian suggested that I should write a story that would give a view of the heroic lives of the pioneers of Oregon and Washington. Soon after this interview I met a distinguished educator who had lately returned from the Columbia River, who told me the legend of the old chief who died of grief in the grave of his son, somewhat in the manner described in this volume. The legend had those incidental qualities that haunt a susceptible imagination, and it was told to me in such a dramatic way that I could not put it out of my mind. A few weeks after hearing this haunting legend I went over the Rocky Mountains by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and visited the Columbia River and the scenes associated with the Indian story. I met in Washington, Yesler, Denney, and Hon. Elwood Evans, the historian; visited the daughter of Seattle, the chief, "Old Angeline"; and gathered original stories in regard to the pioneers of the Puget Sound country from many sources. In this atmosphere the legend grew upon me, and the outgrowth of it is this volume, which, amid a busy life of editorial and other work, has forced itself upon my experience. H.B. 28 WORCESTER STREET, BOSTON, July 4, 1890 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GRETCHEN'S VIOLIN II. THE CHIEF OF THE CASCADES III. "BOSTON TILICUM" IV. MRS. WOODS'S TAME BEAR, LITTLE "ROLL OVER" V. THE NEST OF THE FISHING EAGLE VI. THE MOUNTAIN LION VII. THE "SMOKE-TALK" VIII. THE BLACK EAGLE'S NEST OF THE FALLS OF THE MISSOURI IX. GRETCHEN'S VISIT TO THE OLD CHIEF OF THE CASCADES X. MRS. WOODS MEETS LITTLE "ROLL OVER" AGAIN XI. MARLOWE MANN'S NEW ROBINSON CRUSOE XII. OLD JOE MEEK AND MR. SPAULDING XIII. A WARNING XIV. THE POTLATCH XV. THE TRAUMEREI AGAIN XVI. A SILENT TRIBE XVII. A DESOLATE HOME AND A DESOLATE PEOPLE XVIII. THE LIFTED CLOUD--THE INDIANS COME TO THE SCHOOLMASTER HISTORICAL NOTES. I. Vancouver II. The Oregon Trail III. Governor Stevens