Editor’s note: This column was first published Jan. 30, 2022.
A campground in Cle Elum and a road in Yakima County bear the name of one of the Yakama’s chiefs, Owhi.
Owhi, one of the signatories to the Treaty of 1855 and uncle of the Yakama Chief Kamiakin. He also fought in the war with federal troops and was killed as part of an act of treachery committed by an officer.
Owhi was the son of We-ow-wicht, who was a chief of the Yakama in the 18th century. Owhi would become the chief of the Upper Yakama, whose territory encompassed what is today Kittitas County and the Upper Yakima Valley.
In December 1847, while visiting Fort Walla Walla, Owhi asked that Catholic missionaries be sent to his people. A pair of priests with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Revs. George Blanchet and Celestine Verney, established a mission on Manastash Creek. They would later be joined by the Revs. Charles Pandosy and Casimir Chirouse.
In return for Owhi’s protection, the priests were to teach his people. Later, Owhi’s nephew, Kamiakin, would ask that the missionaries establish a mission at Ahtanum Creek. Pandosy would found the St. Joseph Mission, the first and oldest Catholic church in the Valley.
Part of Owhi’s territory was the Wenas Valley, which offered a sheltered place where crops could be grown with irrigation. It was in this area, known as Owhi’s Gardens, that the Yakama would get their first indication of coming trouble.
An Army surveying team led by Lt. George B. McClellan arrived in the Valley in 1853, coming from Fort Vancouver. McClellan, who would later become the overly cautious commander of the Union Army of the Potomac in the Civil War, made his camp at Owhi’s Gardens, later meeting with Kamiakin at Ahtanum.
McClellan assured Kamiakin and Owhi that his company’s intentions were only surveying a route for a railroad through the area, and that there were no plans of opening the land to settlers.
A month after McClellan’s arrival, the first emigrant wagon train came into the Valley, stopping at Owhi’s Garden before making the push over the Cascades. The company, led by James Longmire, traded with Owhi’s people for 13 bushels of potatoes for the trip to the west side.
Territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens met with Owhi and other Native leaders on the east side in 1854 to discuss a treaty in which the government would buy land. Owhi told Stevens that the people would not sell their lands, and Stevens informed him that if they didn’t sell it, the government would take it anyway and the Army might annihilate them.
Owhi relayed this message to Kamiakin, who proposed having the various tribes and bands present a united front when they met with Stevens to discuss the treaty the following year.
But the tribes’ unity collapsed when the Nez Perce said they would work out their own deal, despite Owhi’s declaration that giving up the land would be an affront to the Great Spirit who gave it to them.
“Shall I give the land which is part of my body and leave myself poor and destitute?” Owhi said. “Shall I say I will give you my lands? I cannot say so. I am afraid of the Great Spirit. I love my life.”
But in the end, Kamiakin, Owhi and 12 other leaders would sign the Treaty of 1855, under which the bands that formed the Yakama Nation ceded 11 million acres and were forced onto a 1.3 million-acre reservation in the Lower Valley.
One provision of the treaty was that white settlers would not come into the Valley until 1857, giving the Yakama time to move onto the reservation.
Stevens broke the promise two weeks later, with settlers coming into the area. These settlers included miners who, according to Yakama accounts, raped Yakama women.
Two of the accused rapists were killed in retaliation by the Yakama. Andrew J. Bolon, a U.S. Indian subagent sent to investigate the killings, was killed by Yakama and the war with the Yakama began.
Owhi fought alongside Kamiakin at what is known as the Battle of Union Gap, where the Yakama were routed by federal troops.
In 1858, when it was clear that the Yakama had lost the war, Owhi went to Wright, who was camped at Latah Creek near Spokane, to sue for peace.
Instead, he was tied up and ordered by Wright to summon his son to come to the camp. Owhi refused to lead his son into a trap, preferring to die first.
On Oct. 3, 1858, Owhi was being transferred to Walla Walla when, with his legs tied, he managed to spur the horse he was on in an attempt to get away. He was shot multiple times, with the officer in charge of the detail ordering one of the men to administer a coup de grace to the wounded chief.
It Happened Here is a weekly history column by Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Donald W. Meyers.
