Forty-three historical monuments erected between 1900 and 1950 tell only one side of our state’s history — the perspective of white settlers — and they cannot stand, according to the Washington State Historical Society.
At a meeting recently at the Lewis County Historical Museum in Chehalis, I sat perplexed as they flashed photos of three historical markers with factual text about the history of Lewis County:
— “HIGHLAND | John R. Jackson selected this spot for a home in 1844. It became famous as a stopping place for pioneer travelers over the Oregon Trail. Governor Stevens and family spent a night here in November 1854 on way to Olympia.”
— “COURTHOUSE | In addition to being the Jackson home this was used as a courthouse as early as 1850. House and lot donated to the Washington State Historical Society by Augustine Donahoe & Wife 1915.”
During their presentation last week, a “community conversation” on reviewing for accuracy and inclusivity the markers that were decided upon years ago by a small group of people, Historical Society representatives stated unequivocally that “leaving these monuments as they are is not an option.”
“What’s wrong with them?” I asked. “The information is factual.”
I fully support parallel monuments sharing the Native American view of history — acknowledging how their ancestors were traumatized by white settlers and government officials took land where they lived through treaties and shoved them onto reservations carved out, in many cases, of the least desirable property.
I’ve always thought Toledo should have a marker explaining how a village of 5,000 Cowlitz Indians once resided where the town is today.
Pamela James, a tribal liaison with the society who is of Colville descent, described President Joe Biden’s apology on Oct. 25 for the government’s role in mistreatment of Native Americans at boarding schools as great. He acknowledged the trauma experienced by Native American children sent against their will to boarding schools for “forced assimilation” into white culture. They were forbidden from speaking in their native tongue or embracing their tribal culture. I’m glad that “1923,” a spinoff of the western TV series “Yellowstone,” highlighted for the public the abuses at Indian boarding schools.
As I said, I fully support parallel monuments that share the other side of the story, sort of how we now have two parallel monuments in Centralia’s Washington Park telling about the Nov. 11, 1919, conflict that left four veterans dead and a Wobbly lynched from a bridge that night. For nearly a century, The Sentinel in the park shared the American Legion viewpoint, and now, thanks to the efforts of Mike and Mary Garrison, an Industrial Workers of the World marker tells the Wobbly side of the Centralia Tragedy. A QR code linking to information about the Centralia Tragedy may be added to the monument, Mike Garrison said.
But when people with agendas a hundred years later launch into “rewriting” history, condemning those who came before in light of today’s values, it’s a slippery slope. Factual errors should be corrected, and new writing of what transpired might be merited where markers discuss battles between Native Americans and whites. Only one side has ever been written in those cases, such as the Battle of Pine Creek at Steptoe and the Battle of Spokane Plains, both in Eastern Washington. But replacing verifiable facts on monuments with value-ridden judgments shouldn’t happen.
“Rewriting implies that you are telling a history that is no longer factually true,” said Sarah Pharaon of Dialogic Consulting, who is working with the society on the Monuments Project. “What I don’t hear you actually wanting to do is to say that this is the only history.”
It’s not. Hence, the need for a parallel narrative.
Dylan High, statewide partnerships coordinator for WSHS, mentioned that anti-Catholic sentiment prevailed in 1926 when the WSHS and Knights of Columbus erected the monument at the Cowlitz Mission. Michele McGeoghegan pointed out that anti-Catholic sentiment still exists today.
High noted that the society is working with tribal governments to address “the erasure of their experiences reflected in these monuments.” He noted that others may have been excluded.
For example, he said, the Jackson House monuments fail to mention that women in the St. Helens Club played a huge role in restoring the dilapidated cabin in 1915, which is why we still have this historic courthouse today. That’s true. Years ago, when I was invited to join the St. Helens Club, where I served as president from 2021 to 2023, all I knew about the club was that it restored the Jackson House. That was enough for me.
Anyone who regularly reads this column knows my favorite Washington state pioneer is Matilda Koontz Jackson. I first learned of her by reading a small tidbit at our museum but wanted to know more. Many history books focus on men and ignore women. So I spent five years delving into Matilda’s life, researching her past, and writing a book about her: “Washington Territory’s Grand Lady: The Story of Matilda (Glover) Koontz Jackson.” I learned about her nephew, James Nettle Glover, who is referred to as the “Father of Spokane,” and her brother, Phillip, who settled in Oregon. But nonfiction doesn’t draw nearly the interest of a novel, so five years later, I wrote her story in “The Reluctant Pioneer.”
The overlooking of local women’s roles in history appeared starkly in the 1915 Chehalis Bee Nugget’s history of Chehalis, which failed entirely to mention the city’s founder, Eliza (Tynan) Saunders Barrett, the “Mother of Chehalis,” who was referred to only in negative tones with veiled inferences to “the property owner” who wouldn’t sell. That’s why, when I republished the 1915 history, I added a chapter at the front sharing Eliza’s story.
Yes, women and Native Americans, African Americans and other racial minorities have been ignored in the past. Their stories deserve to be told.
But with regard to the Jacksons, Anna Koontz, a member of both the St. Helens Club and the Washington State Historical Society, played a significant role in restoration of the historic cabin and the celebration that took place on Oct. 21, 1922, to commemorate it. So did her aunt, Matilda’s youngest daughter, Louisa Ware, who donated 5 acres for a state park in her mother’s name along Jackson Highway just north of the Jackson Courthouse. Also attending were her son John’s widow, Charlotte (Simmons) Koontz, and daughter Nettie Koontz.
They had no objection to the markers placed by the Historical Society outside the cabin.
When I stopped by the courthouse on my way home from my writers’ critique group on Tuesday, I realized any concerns about ignoring the St. Helens Club’s contributions have been addressed in new placards placed at the heritage site by the Washington State Parks Department. They mention that the cabin fell into disarray after Matilda and her children moved into a new house on the property in 1882.
“Decades later, Anna Koontz, a granddaughter of the Jacksons, saw the historic value of the site and brought the idea of preserving the old cabin to the St. Helens Club of Chehalis, a local women’s civic group. They voted to take on the project and quickly raised $500 for the effort. As the work was underway, the property was transferred to Washington State Parks, becoming the second park in the system.”
So, unless they want to chisel in the words “built on land stolen from Native Americans,” I don’t see what needs to change on the markers there. And those same words could be chiseled on the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma and every building erected in the United States of America.
At the meeting, Johanna Jones, a member of St. Francis Mission and the Toledo Historical Society, mentioned receiving a grant for a Healing Trail at the mission. She asked the Cowlitz Tribe to engage and provide wording for a plaque to share the Native American experience with the Cowlitz Mission and its priests, who tried to convert them to Catholicism. But she said they’ve received no response from the tribe.
“We want to tell the story, and we want to have the words in their words, but they have to give us those words, and they have to be willing to do that,” she said. “I’m just saying it’s not easy.”
And it’s probably not a good idea to move forward with the Healing Trail without the tribe’s participation or it could be considered adding insult to injury.
I commend the Historical Society for holding meetings in communities where these monuments stand — so far in Spokane, Chehalis and Vancouver. They acknowledge that the society’s early constitution contained racist language toward Native Americans. The constitution described its goal to preserve pioneer history and “the work they did in opening the way for settlement, development and civilization.”
We do have a history of racism as a nation — toward Native Americans, Chinese, African Americans (who were enslaved), Japanese Americans (who were interned) and more recently Mexicans, Haitians, Vietnamese and others. It’s a history we must address as a nation but without denigrating those who came before.
In fact, Densho in Seattle, which has collected and preserved stories about the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned unjustly during World War II, recently launched an effort to Save Minidoka. For 25 years, the Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome, Idaho, has shared stories of the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans and Alaska Natives during World War II. The Biden Administration’s Lava Ridge wind project may destroy the internment camp. The decision of whether to preserve Minidoka should rest with the families of those who were incarcerated there, not with bureaucrats who want to site a wind farm there for power generation.
During last week’s presentations, the WSHS representatives outlined four possible outcomes for monuments in question:
As I said, I fully support the idea of a parallel narrative. I oppose the other options. But that’s me.
I also believe it would be fantastic if more Native American stories appeared in print. As Rudyard Kipling said, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
