"The story I know starts long before the 17th century -- thousands of years before that. I suppose that if there were a Census Bureau then, it too would report a changing society -- the cultural and ethnic threats when Shoshones encountered Nez Perce.

When the new settlers came -- this time from Europe -- more conflict was inevitable. And the waves of that immigration were so large that these new people (and all their weaponry) crushed the Native American population. Extermination was a favorite method for controlling native people and grabbing their lands. By 1890 the story was supposed to have read "the end."

Of course it didn't work out that way -- the settlers and a much smaller native population adapted. Things are different, but we're both here nonetheless."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: You've heard this story before -- this time, pay attention (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/21)

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