I felt that I had arrived at home the first time I saw the Hood Canal, a natural waterway about a mile and a half wide with the proper amount of trees and water. The ancient trees grow down to the shoreline, and large rocks make a fine place for sun bathing or simply watching the gulls in their ever present search for food. It beckons one to pick up a fishing rod or a snorkel.
Often in the night the swish of killer whales rushing downstream reminds you that you are not alone in your love of the water. Sometimes at night when the moon is just right, the water becomes phosphorescent, and you aren’t quite sure what lies beneath.
The Hood Canal is the home of our friend and mentor Emmett Oliver, who passed away recently at the age of 102. In 1989 Emmett realized his hope that the tribal canoe culture could be renewed, as part of the centennial celebration for the State of Washington. It was called the Paddle to Seattle. Since then the number of tribes taking part in the Journey has increased each year. This year’s Paddle to Puyallup is well under way with many members of the same families plying the waters their ancestors visited. At the end of their destination there is a huge powwow featuring a salmon bake and many vendors offering native food such as a frybread hamburger.
The Oliver family is well represented, with Emmett’s grandchildren pulling. Son Marvin Oliver, professor of Art at the University of Washington, designs many of the canoes. His youngest son, 12 year old Sam, was a puller for the first time this year. Emmett’s daughter Marylin who has been a puller each year, took her new grandson along this year. To watch these colorful canoes moving through the water is to see the past through their eyes. The Willapa Spirit, with some of the Oliver clan aboard sailed slowly down the Canal past Emmett’s home, with paddles raised in salute to a great gentleman who had a great idea which came to fruition.
May the building and maintaining of the canoes live for ever more.
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I am sure that this generation and the next will proudly Journey each year, teaching the history of their tribe to the young ones.
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I would love to see some photos of this event. So wonderful that the tradition lives on.
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There have been some wonderful videos on FB. Unfortunately my WordPress is broken and I cannot post any media. Not even those that are already here.
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I hope that the next time your grandson Tyler comes over, he will fix this!
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” Often in the night the swish of killer whales rushing downstream reminds you that you are not alone in your love of the water.” Pure poetry. Beautiful!
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It’s a special feeling, living with Nature. It’ all around us everyday and we pay no attention. It seems to take something larger than usual to make us look and say “How marvelous!
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I didn’t realize until I read this that the Hood Canal isn’t a canal — at least, in the way I think of canals. I’ve always thought of canals as man-made: for navigation, irrigation, and so on. Now I see that it’s actually a fjord; the Wiki page could have told me that, if I’d ever thought to consult it. So now I have that straight in my mind.
I remember the first time I saw phosphorescence; it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. Well, one of the most beautiful. The loveliest I ever saw was mid-Pacific: a combination of blue and green stars shining on the water.
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That is understandable. We generally think of a canal as being small. Ocean going ships come into the Hood Canal. We once owned property at the far end of it. I certainly miss it. I love the Southwest and all it offers, but I would find it hard to live far away from water. It must have been difficult for Georgia Oliver to move to the Northwest when she married Emmett. Such a change of environment. I am grateful to both of them for introducing me to both cultures.
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