The Legend of Wappato : Chief Cassino of the Multnomahs

Rating:
Summary: Historically astute, and highly recommended reading
Review: An historical novel set in the Pacific Northwest where the Willamette and Columbia rivers meet, Donald and Marilyn Bruner's The Legend Of Wappato: Chief Cassino Of The Multnomah is the story of Native American and white cultures colliding against each other in the opening decades of the 1800s. Chief Cassino had consolidated several tribes to face the intruding threats of white fur traders and settlers when in 1824, John McLoughlin set up the Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Fort George and then another one at Fort Vancouver. Chief Cassino and McLoughlin became friends and worked together to control conflict during the settlement of the Oregon Territory. But in the winter of 1830 an epidemic swept through the native villages. The result was the near extinction of a once great Multnomah tribe from the Wappato lands. Chief Cassino survived and continued to be friends with McLoughlin for the rest of their lives. The Legend Of Wappato is superbly crafted, historically astute, and highly recommended reading.