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LETTERS
To the Editor
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Compliments to R. Gregory Nokes for his article in the Fall 2006 Quarterly entitled "A Most Daring Outrage." His depiction of the 1887 Chinese massacre in Hell's Canyon of the Snake River provides a new level of understanding of Oregon's most horrendous, unpunished mass murder. I would emphasize, as did Mr. Nokes, that the jury is still out on precisely who or why this cold-blooded killing took place. At this point in time, we may never know. |
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As to where it took place, some local historians don't believe it happened at or near the mouth of Deep Creek, as Mr. Nokes describes. Harley Horner wrote "... it happened about half way between Dug and Big Deep Creek." Gerald J. Tucker, in The Story of Hell's Canyon, also places it at Robinson Gulch, over one-half mile downriver from Deep Creek. If the massacre took place where the horse thieves could swim their herd across Snake River to Idaho, the event would more likely have happened at Robinson Gulch, where landscape features favor a crossing, unlike at Deep Creek, where the river is swift and the Idaho shore has rimrock cliffs. |
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As to personalities, Nokes speculated, "Vaughan (who provided State's evidence) was so much considered a respectable member of the community that two weeks before the massacre he was deputized to serve a subpoena on [Bruce] Evans...." It is more believable that only another horse thief could know where to find Evans and his den of cutthroats. Vaughan, who received a gunshot wound in the leg, was the only outlaw injured during the Chinese slaying. However, if making good moonshine provided community respectability, then Vaughan regained some in later life. |
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In the photo of three men standing on Main Street in Wallowa, Mr. Nokes wrongly identified Frank Vaughan. The man he captioned as Frank was actually his cousin Harry N. Vaughan. |
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Nokes also wrote "... U.S. senator James H. Slater of Joseph appealed to Washington, D.C. for help." Senator Slater was from Auburn and La Grande — not from Joseph. On the same page Nokes attributed a quote to George Craig in 1967. Craig, who was buried in 1936, was not around then. |
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Regardless of these errors, it is much appreciated that Mr. Nokes' exhaustive research has pulled together so many little known details of this gruesome crime. I'm looking forward to reading his forthcoming book. |
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| Jon M. Skovlin
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| Cove, Oregon |
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To the Editor
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I appreciate Mr. Skovlin's kind and thoughtful letter regarding my article. As he notes, there has been a great deal of confusion and misinformation concerning the facts of the massacre, largely because the crime was never thoroughly investigated and was apparently covered up. With respect to the location of the massacre, however, recent research accurately locates it at Deep Creek, which now carries the place designation of Chinese Massacre Cove. The most persuasive evidence for me was found in depositions given by several of the accused murderers to County Judge Peter O'Sullivan on April 16, 1888. These depositions contain several references to Deep Creek/Deadline Creek as the site of the massacre. (Deep Creek, at the time, was also known as Deadline Creek.) |
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In his history of Wallowa County, J. Harley Horner made a specific reference to Deadline Creek/Deep Creek as the massacre site. I was unable to find the specific quotation Mr. Skovlin attributed to Horner, but I did find this quotation on page 1211: "The place where the Chinamen were camped, or near it, was a main old crossing about half way between Dug and Big Deep Creek.'' The "near it'' suggests that Horner wasn't necessarily saying it was the specific location of the massacre. Also, I couldn't find any reference in Horner's history to Robinson Gulch as the massacre site. It is probably worth noting that all of these locations are very near one another. |
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A 1973 U.S. Forest Service register of historic places put the massacre site on "the north side of Deep Creek and its junction with Snake River,'' and a Forest Service sign at Deep Creek identified it as the massacre site. This same document said the Chinese used an old Native American rock dwelling while camped there. There is such a dwelling at Deep Creek. However, it is quite possible that some of the Chinese were killed elsewhere. A purported deathbed confession by one of the alleged killers, Robert McMillan said thirteen Chinese miners were killed at a second camp, which was not identified. |
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With regard to Frank Vaughan's reputation, I certainly was not trying to defend him or his involvement in the massacre. Vaughan did come from a respected family, and he was sufficiently well regarded to have been deputized to deliver a subpoena on another matter to Bruce Evans, the leader of the gang. |
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As for former U.S. Senator James Slater's domicile, Mr. Skovlin is correct that Slater's primary residence was in La Grande. However, Slater's letter to U.S. Attorney L.L. McArthur, dated April 25, 1888, is written from Joseph. |
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With respect to the trial quote from George Craig, I took the quote from Gerald Tucker's 1967 article. Tucker wrote that he took the quote from an interview Craig gave to the Oregon Journal years earlier. However, Tucker didn't provide a date for the article, and I was unable to locate it. Still, I have no reason to doubt its authenticity. The same quote has appeared in other accounts of the massacre. |
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| Greg Nokes
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| West Linn, Oregon |
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To the Editor
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I appreciated Matthew Evenden's careful reading and critical review of River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia for OHQ. I particularly was drawn to his comments regarding the forgetfulness that the book might engender through what he considers the nostalgic approach in the book's design and construction. He is quite right, of course, in that this telling of the river is a based on an artificially constructed natural world. River of Memory does indeed exclude much of the river's story, favoring instead to commemorate and move us all a bit closer to a river now far gone from our view. |
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Those of us living along the river do not forget the river's many complex legacies. In addition to the fine books Evenden referenced, there are others such as Michele Gerber's On the Home Front: The Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site that I might recommend. In addition we can expect a continuation of books that chronicle the river's many stories. Far more needs to be done, particularly in the field of environmental history. The extensive programming of the exhibit in Wenatchee has sought to address these other elements of the Columbia. |
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What I aimed to do in this project was to bring together for the first time a place-based photographic view of the entire river and to speak of the great feeling that people have for the Columbia both in Canada as well as the U.S. The intent here was to provide a certain visual access to the river that may benefit others in seeing and knowing the free-flowing Columbia more intimately. Additionally I hoped it would serve as a kind of basenote for other work. This in turn might benefit future environmental, human, natural, and photographic histories that can speak of the river in all its many guises.... |
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Perhaps living along the river, where the changes, losses, and griefs are so very apparent, has colored my views that we have needed to reflect on the original channels, the river's fast waters, amazing rapids and waterfalls as well as the whole of its physical self through this exhibit and book. To know where we are heading in our relationship to the present and future Columbia is aided by knowing the river before, during, and after its great transformations. You cannot do any deep looking into The Great River of the West without an awareness of the losses that have come with the changes as well as a familiarity with the enormous body of literature on the river.... |
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| William D. Layman
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| Wenatchee, Washington |
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