In 1805, the central seat of the Multnomahs, near the east end of Wapato (Sauvie's) Island, had a population of "eight hundred souls' noted, "as the remains of a large nation," surrounded by kindred near-by tribes, aggregating two thousand two hundred and sixty souls. In 1845 the site was without human habitation. "The dead were there,' in large numbers, swathed in cedar bark, and laid tier above tier on constructions of cedar slabs about four inches thick, and often four feet wide, causing the observer to wonder how the native, with such agencies as he possessed, could fell and split such timber. At this time so many as two hundred natives, could not be seen on the banks of the Low r er Columbia, between the mouth of the Willamette and Clatsop Point, w r ithout special effort at counting the few living in the scattered villages, often separated by several sites once inhabited by large numbers apparently. This w r as particularly noticed on the south bank, at Coffin Rock, and the main shore, between that and Rainier. "The dead were there," in abundance, but no life but the eagle, the fish hawk, the black loon, and the glistening head of the salmon-devouring seal, then very, numerous. There was a village of the Cowlitz tribe on the south bank, below where Rainier now stands. The people looked poor, ill fed, and worse clothed. The chief had come to us in the stream to invite us to camp near, exhibiting a single fresh hen's egg as inducement. We did so, and visiting their camp had the first sight of life in a native fishing village. Some of the children were nearly naked. Though it was midwinter, the adult females, with one exception, were dressed in the native petticoat, or kilt, as second garment, the other being a chemise of what had been white cotton; one was engaged in the manufacture of cedar bark strings used in the formation of the kind of kilt she wore. The exception in the camp was_ a young woman of extraordinary personal
