Running Head: BRIDGE OF THE GODS – NATIVE AMERICAN MYTH

Bridge of the Gods Native American Myth

Andrea E. Janda
G-200-002
FIELD STUDIES
COLUMBIA GORGE
Spring 2010
Instructor: Scott Burns
May 24th, 2010
BRIDGE OF THE GODS – NATIVE AMERICAN MYTH

More and more geoscientists are willing to combine their work with mythical

stories these days, in a budding discipline called geomythology. Once dismissed,

myths are winning new attention from geologists who find that they may encode

valuable data about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and other stirrings of the

earth (Krajick, 2005, p. 762).

Traditional storytelling among North American Indians was a way to communicate

beliefs through oral history. In addition to customs, historical events and creation myths,

Edmonds & Clark (1989) note that “some describe the beauty and power of the landscape” or

reflect “themes of natural phenomena” (p. xiv). Summer, Spring and Autumn kept the tribal

member busy hunting, fishing, harvesting and making clothes and so, the transmission of myths

and legends was often “reserved for the cold seasons, as people gathered around winter fires”

(Edmonds & Clark, 1989, p. xiii). Passing these myths down from generation to generation gave

the stories new life and sometimes, new additions depending on the skill and creativity of the

teller. The legend of the Bridge of the Gods is no exception, having many iterations and versions,

and there are stories that speak both of the creation and destruction of the natural bridge and the

mountain spirits surrounding it. (Bunnell, 1935; Bridge of the Gods, 2005; Judson, 1910).

Looking up at the cold, wintry majesty of the three “smoking mountains,” Mount Hood,

Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, there are inspired tales where the mountains donned their

“beautiful white coats” or “fiery ones . . . in their war-like pride” (Bunnell, 1935, p.16,17) and

most of the tales recall a time when the mountain were people. Tyhee Sahale (Old Coyote,

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Koyoda, Speelyi, or Great Spirit) was by many names a teacher, a trickster, and creator. He had

two quarrelsome and willful sons, Wy’east or Wiyeast (Mount Hood) and Pahto or Klickitat

(Mount Adams) (Bunnell, 193; Clark, 1953; Judson, 1910). In an effort to appease them, while

his sons slept, Sahale spirited them to a new land with high mountains, had them each shoot an

arrow in opposite directions, one to the North and one to the West. There, they would lay claim

the land where the arrows fell, becoming great chiefs where a river would separate their lands.

(Judson, 1910; Clark, 1953). There was peace for some time, but then, temptation stoked the fire

and along came a woman . . .

Loo-Wit (Squaw Mountain, Sleeping Beauty or Mount St. Helens) appears as their object

of desire in these myths of a tragic love triangle. Sometimes, she is a beautiful maiden, Squaw

Mountain, who moved into the valley between the brothers teasing them both, causing them to

growl and rumble in a fight for her favors, until they became so angry they “spat ashes and fire”

and belched great clouds of black smoke, darkening the sun (Bunnell, 1935; Judson, 1910, p.

16). Among Native American myth, mountains were home to supernatural beings and “fire was

first only on a mountain top”; it was a precious possession, carefully guarded and only procured

by theft. (Judson, 1910, viii). Similarly, Loo-wit is sometimes portrayed as the keeper of this fire.

In some tellings, she is not initially the object of desire, but a toothless hag, or an old wise

woman charged with guarding the bridge. Great Sprit seeks her help and makes a deal with her;

she agrees to give the gift of her fire to the cold, dark, wintry lands in exchange for eternal youth

and beauty (Judson, 1910; Clark, 1953; Bunnell, 1935; Bridge of the Gods, 2005). Sometimes, it

is Loo-wit who beseeches Great Spirit in the form of Sahale and asks permission to deliver the

sacred fire upon the Indians so that they are able to make lodges, clothes and a variety of food

and implements (Lyman, 1904).

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How the first, natural bridge was created is also a winding and varied story. At its

simplest telling, the Great Spirit, felt sorry for his people and build a stone bridge for them to

cross the Columbia River. In a widely distributed version, after the son’s arrows fell, Great Spirit

built the bridge a symbol of peace between the brothers so that their people could cross with

many horses and visit each other (Clark, 1953). Yet another account from Clark (1953) is nestled

in the legend How Coyote Made the Columbia River. Here, clever Coyote saw a long range of

mountains between the lake and the ocean, but no river to allow the Salmon to migrate closer to

his people and provide them with food. Coyote set out to a place near Portland and dug a hole

through the mountains, forming a broad, rock bridge, and soon, the water in the big lake was

drained and the Columbia River formed (Clark, 1953; Smith 2005). Afterward, the legend

claims, “an earthquake broke the bridge down” and “the rocks that fell into the water formed the

Cascades of the Columbia.” (Clark, 1953, p. 88) Pieces of the actual geological record and its

precise timing remain a topic of scientific debate, but it is believed that the Bridge of the Gods

was created by the Bonneville Slide, a major landslide resulting from an earthquake on the north

shore of the Colombia River that dammed and blocked the Gorge near present-day Cascade

Locks (Wikipedia, 2010). Water eroded the natural stone bridge, and the river eventually

breached the formation and washed much of it away.

As all good things come to an end, there are several legends of how the bridge collapsed.

In some of the stories, because Wy’East and Klickitat in a blind rage crossed the symbol of

peace, the Bridge of the Gods, in order to fight over Loo-wit, Sahale or Old Coyote collapsed the

land bridge to keep his sons apart. (Clark, 1953). Instead of the peacemaker, Sahale is portrayed

in another version as an angry father who causes a series of rapids to form in the river, making it

impossible to navigate. This, he doles out as a punishment after Wy’east hurls a single, hot stone

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BRIDGE OF THE GODS – NATIVE AMERICAN MYTH

at Klickitat and misses, falling short and destroying the bridge. In yet another version, the

warring brothers had hurled so many “white-hot rocks through the darkness at each other” that

the stones fell onto the Bridge of the Gods and “shook the earth so hard that the stone bridge

broke in the middle and fell in the river” (Bunnell, 1935, p. 17; Bridge of the Gods, 2005). So

much of the land, the forests and the resources were destroyed in this passionate battle. As a

result of his sons warring, selfish and jealous behavior, Sahale, the Great Spirit, struck down all

three lovers, Wy’east, Klickitat, and Loo-wit and turned them into snow-capped peaks. (Judson,

1910; Clark, 1953; Bunnell, 1935)

In some accounts, it was Klickitat who won the fight over Squaw Mountain and though it

was Wy’east she loved, she dutifully took her place by Klickitat. With her heart broken, she fell

into a deep sleep and became known as Sleeping Beauty, lying where she fell, just west of Mt.

Adams (Bridge of the Gods, 2005). In other stories, Loo-wit is instead turned into Mount St.

Helens, known to the Klickitats as Louwala-Clough, which means "smoking or fire mountain"

(Wikipedia, 2010). There are even explanations as to the shape and age of the mountains.

Wy'east, has a high, straight head, a raised majesty, lifted in pride, and became the volcano

Mount Hood. Klickitat, who became Mount Adams, is thought to have the flat summit or sunken

head from having a volcanic boulder strike him from Wy’east’s corner. Legend alternatively

explains that it is the somber appearance of a dropped head, bent toward his fallen love is

because he truly loved her and her fate “caused him such grief that he dropped his head in shame

and has never raised it again” (Bridge of the Gods, 2005). As for Loo-wit, in the versions where

she is not the crestfallen Sleeping Beauty, the Great Spirit, Sahale turns her into the most

powerful, beautiful and youngest mountain in the Cascades, Mt. St. Helens (Bunnell, 1935;

Bridge of the Gods 2005).

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Myths and legends have the dual purpose of informing researchers of historical

geohazards and enriching the records. Science has the power to demonstrate the danger while

myths, in their storytelling simplicity, “reinforce the fact that people lie in harm's way” and the

discipline lies in “teasing out which myths carry kernels of truth that can be connected to hard

data.” (Krajick, 2005).

If the fiery volcanoes and mighty Columbia River are the heart and soul of the

Central Cascades, it is the Bridge of the Gods that connects the two. There are

actually three bridges – one of myth, one geologic and the present-day

cantilevered metal span. They combine to capture the region’s nature, culture and

history. (Central Cascades Geotourism Project, 2010)

The Bridge of the Gods is a significant structure whether we admire and study it for its

natural, geological history, its metaphorical and mythological legacy, or its current physical and

technological monument. The stories of the beautiful Pacific Northwest as told by native people

and by native geologists link us to our natural history and our desire as humans to both harness

nature and to understand its wild waters, its majestic heights, and its fiery beginnings.

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Running Head: BRIDGE OF THE GODS – NATIVE AMERICAN MYTH

References

Bridge of the Gods. (2005). Ancient Bridge and Legend. Retrieved May 19,

2010 from: http://www.portofcascadelocks.org/bridge.htm.

Bridge of the Gods (land bridge). (2010, May 13). In Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Bridge_of_the_Gods_geologic_event

Bunnell, C.O. (1935). Legend of the Klickitats: A legend of the story of the Bridge

of the Gods. Portland, OR: Metropolitan Press.

Clark, E.E. (1953). Indian legends of the Pacific Northwest. Los Angeles, LA:

University of California Press.

Edmonds, M. & Clark, E.E. (1989). Voices of the winds: Native American legends.

New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc.

Judson, K.B. (1916). Myths and legends of the Pacific Northwest. Chicago, IL:

A.C. McClurg & Co.

Krajick, K. (2005, November 4). Geology: Tracking Myth to Geological Reality.

Science, 310 (5749), 762-764.

Lyman, W.D. (1904, April). Myths and superstitions of Oregon Indians. Proceedings

of the American Antiquarian Society, 221-251.

Smith, S. May 2005. Developing and presenting geoscience interpretive programs

at Nez Perce National Historical Park, Idaho. Journal of Geoscience Education,

53(3), 294-296.