Sitting near the heart of downtown Seaside, the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes mural depicts a scene of life on the Necanicum estuary, featuring many important tribal leaders as they appeared in pre-contact times. The late Roger Cooke, a prominent Northwest mural artist, had worked closely with the Clatsop-Nehalem to design, paint, and install the mural on the north side of the Ace Hardware building in 2008. Damaged by an automobile accident, the tribe has worked with the Seaside community to carefully restore the mural to its original condition.
Important Clatsop tribal leaders of the last two centuries provided inspiration for the faces in the mural, including Chief Tostum and Celiast, the daughter of Chief Coboway who hosted Lewis and Clark during their stay at Ft. Clatsop during the winter of 1805-06. Other prominent Clatsop-Nehalem leaders on the mural who were instrument to the survival of the tribe during the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the late 1800s’ and early 1900s’ are Jennie Michel, Maggie Adams, Kate Jurhs, and Nancy Gervais. Also visible among the faces in the mural are modern leaders, such as Joe Scovell – the late Chairman and hereditary chief of the Clatsop-Nehalem.
“We are very happy to see the mural back up after a long restoration process” said David Stowe, Vice Chair of the tribe. “This mural represents the heart of who we are and has deep meaning to the tribe,” said Stowe.
The current tribal council, most of them descendants of the people in the mural, will be in attendance. The ceremony will start at 2 p.m. with a prayer of thanks given by Puyallup tribal member Roberta Basch, the wife of Clatsop-Nehalem member Dick Basch and mother of Charlotte and Lorraine – whose faces also appear in the mural, representing the next generation of the tribe. The Basch family are longtime members of the Seaside-Cannon Beach community.
The prayer will be followed by a short presentation and recognition of tribal members and artists for their contributions to the restoration of the mural. The canoe, Dragonfly, will also be on display for the ceremony.
About the Clatsop Nehalem:
The Clatsop and Nehalem tribes were historical neighbors on the North Coast of Oregon since time immemorial. The tribes became bilingual, with each tribe being fluent in the other’s language. At the time Lewis and Clark visited the tribes in 1806 they reported Clatsop and Nehalem villages from Tillamook Head to the area around the present city of Seaside. Lewis and Clark reported the tribal community of Seaside being of Clatsop and Nehalem ancestry, and bi-lingual from living in close proximity for a long period of time. Later anthropologists visiting the tribes in the 1800s reported Nehalem being predominately spoken in the remaining Seaside Native American community, which consisted of both Clatsop and Nehalem families. Both tribes were “canoe cultures” with ocean going canoes up to 50’ long, suitable for long open ocean voyages that ranged from Northern California to the Seattle area and beyond. https://clatsop-nehalem.com/
