Dalton Lake

Indigenous History

Kumahi

Kumahi was a seasonal fishing camp for a Native American tribe. The fishing camp was located on land that was part of the 1846 donation land claim of Joseph Caples, Columbia City's founder.

Native Americans told the Caples family that they named the camp Kumahi and the Indian chief who lived there was Kushnahi. Native Americans called Joseph Caples "Chief Kushnahi" and his sons "Tenn'-as Kushnahi," which meant "Little Chiefs" ("Columbia City" 1961, 49; Charles Green Caples House Museum, n. d., n. p.).

According to stories told by Hugh and Harry Caples to Columbia City historian Harvard Anderson, Native Americans came to the south side of Harrie Creek to fish (Anderson 2002). They used diversion nets at Kumahi. Harvard Anderson wrote that the nets were "made from small willow branches lashed together by woven willow branches. They were not gill nets to catch and hold salmon they just diverted the salmon up against the bank where they could be picked up. They were held in place by large rocks that had grooves cut in them so they could be tied to the lower part of the net by thongs woven out of small willow branch stem[s]" (Anderson 2002).

Tribal members dried the fish before returning to their permanent villages. Later, settlers dug a large ditch through Kumahi. (Anderson 2000)

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Dalton Lake as a Mitigation Site