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The Oregon Surveyor
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Vol. 40, No. 2
6
I n t he Wy ’ Ea s t Coun t r y
T
he picture on the facing page is along
the east boundary of Township 4
South, Range 11 East, Willamette
Meridian (Oregon) on the eastern slopes
of the Cascade Range with Mt. Hood
in the background. Indian legend has
it that the Great Spirit Sahale had two
sons, one named Klickitat and the other,
Wy’East. Each son had fallen in love with
the beautiful maiden Loowit, who could
not decide which to marry. The two sons
went on a rampage, burning forests and
villages in their frustration. Great Chief
Sahale became enraged over this and
smote the three lovers. Realizing what
he had done and feeling somewhat
remorseful, he created three great
mountains to mark where each had
fallen. Thus he made beautiful Mt. St.
Helens for Loowit, proud and erect Mt.
Hood for Wy’east, and the somber and
brooding Mt. Adams for the mourning
Klickitat. These three glacier-clad peaks,
Adams at over 12,000 feet, Hood, more
than 11,000 feet, and St. Helens, just
under 10,000 feet (8,300 since 1980)
are now known as the Guardian Peaks
of the Columbia.
We had a contract in 1991 with the Mt.
Hood National Forest to survey and mark
several miles of the forest boundary in
an area known as Smock Prairie, which is
about 7 miles north of the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation. This reserve of over
1000 square miles was created by treaty
in 1855, five years prior to the GLO survey.
Every retracement usually involves some
level of history and research, but this one
had several aspects that appealed to me.
Much of our previous retracement work
had been in the mountainous land on the
western, heavily timbered, steep and wet
slopes of the Cascades which was
Lost & Found
continues on page 8 >