Legends & Tales Of Mount St. Helens

The Bridge Of The Gods -- Preface

Comparing The Bridge Of The Gods With What We Know

Geologists are willing to combine their work with mythology and legends when the evidence is overbearing or too difficult to explain. Once dismissed and discouraged, myths are winning new attention from geologists who find that they may encode invaluable data about earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters (Krajick, 2005, p. 762), just by simply looking at the best source of recorded geologic data...the human perspective.

Traditional storytelling among North American Indians was a way to communicate beliefs through oral history. The most common problem that historians face is the fact that the Pacific Northwest Tribes of Salish have no written historical record. Meaning that the exact details have either been forgotten or lost when either the tribe has dies out (like the Hullooetell Tribe, and Selahtik Tribe), or valuable information is lost forever when the story dies with the messenger.

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 as seen in Klickitat, Cascade, Cowlitz & Multnomah versions. The legends of the 'Bridge of the Gods' is no exception, having many different versions to the Creation Story. All the versions speak of the creation and destruction of the natural bridge and the mountain spirits surrounding it (Bunnell, 1935; Bridge of the Gods, 2005; Judson, 1910).

Most of the stories begin with the mountains as people.

We are introduced to a series of characters that have 'realistic' ties to the tribes that they have founded. Tyhee Sahale (Old Coyote, Koyoda, Speelyi, Tahmahnnawis or Great Spirit) serves as the creator, father, and Great Spirit to the First People. He has two quarrelsome sons: Wy'east (Wiyeast, Wyeast, and Mount Hood) and Klickitat (Pahto, Patu, Pah-toe, and Mount Adams) (Bunnell, 193; Clark, 1953; Judson, 1910).

In an effort to appease them, while his sons slept, Sahale took them to a new land, fertile and green with rolling hills and a gigantic lake to the east and the ocean to the west. Sahale had them each shoot an arrow in opposite directions; Klickitat's fell northeast and Wy'east's fell southwest. There, they would become great chiefs where the Columbia River would separate their lands (Judson, 1910; Clark, 1953). There was peace for some time, but then, temptation and strife fueled the war-machine, and Klickitat and Wy'east went to war.

Loo-Wit (Squaw Mountain, Sleeping Beauty, Loowit, Lawelatla, "Louwala-Clough, La-wa-la-clough, Lawala-Clough, Low-W-Not-Thlat, Low-W-Lat-Klah, Si Yett (Yakama), Lawilayt-łá (Upper Cowlitz), Tah-one-lat-clah, and Mount St. Helens) appears as the main character that becomes the object of desire and tragedy in these stories.

Among Native American myth, mountains were the sacred home to supernatural beings and 'fire was first, and only on a mountain top'; it was a precious possession; carefully guarded and only procured by theft or sorcery (Judson, 1910, viii).

Loo-wit is sometimes portrayed as the 'Keeper of this Fire', a title that is given to a person who spends their whole life forging evil spirits and stoking fire for the tribe. These individuals are considered to be medicine-men/women, or about the equivalent to that of a witch, meddling in the light-and-dark arts of magic.

In all these stories, Loowit is not initially the object of desire, but a toothless hag: a witch, and an old wise woman charged with guarding the bridge of Tahmahnnawis. Sahale 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).