THE RIVER OF MISUNDERSTANDING

[HostDave]

One of the most exciting things about expanding a company is discovering new horizons. When we announced that the American Queen Steamboat Company would be acquiring a second riverboat and that we would begin voyages in the Pacific Northwest, it opened up a whole new area of the country for exploration by our guests. Built in 2002 with every possible modern amenity yet with a distinctive historical accuracy, the 360-foot American Empress will offer 9-day voyages between Portland, Oregon and Clarkston, Washington with ports of call in historic towns such as Astoria, Stevenson, The Dalles and Sacajawea State Park. Her home will be the Columbia and Snake Rivers and we recently blogged a bit about the Columbia River and its place in history. Lesser known than its larger sister, the Snake River (the Columbia’s largest tributary at nearly 1,100 miles in length) is equally fascinating.

The river begins in Wyoming until reaching the Tri-Cities area of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland in Washington. Both volcanoes and glaciers had a hand in creating the river’s geography and deep gorges such as dramatic Hells Canyon. A volcanic hotspot that is currently located beneath Yellowstone National Park (as the continental crust moves across a hotspot, the volcanic activity below remains stationary) created the river. Much like the Columbia River, the glaciers from the last Ice Age dug out the river’s path, enhanced by monumental floods in the area that periodically unleashed an ocean of water as massive ice dams fractured.

Today, the Snake River is far calmer than it once was, although a jet boat ride through Hell’s Canyon, which is available to guests of the American Empress when she begins service in April 2014, will be an adrenaline-pumping reminder of the river’s energetic past. Looking at the river today, it’s hard to believe its primeval beginnings but yet that is just one way in which this intriguing river has been misunderstood. In fact, the name of the river itself stemmed from a misunderstanding.

The river was initially called the Shawpatin by David Thompson, a Canadian explorer who first saw the river in 1800 at its mouth near what is now the Tri-Cities area. Intrepid American explorers Lewis and Clark found the area in 1805 and, unaware of Thomson’s name for the waterway, first named it after Meriwether Lewis, although there seems to be some debate as to where it was Lewis River or Lewis Fork. Lewis and Clark dubbed the Shoshone tribe of Native Americans who lived in the area the “Snake Indians.” The Shoshone had, of course, their own name for the river based on herbs that grew nearby. Known as Ki-moo-e-nim or Yam-pah-pa, the name never struck a chord with Lewis and Clark’s expedition who preferred to honor Meriwether with the name.

The name Lewis River didn’t have staying power, however. More explorers, settlers and pioneers followed in the wake of Lewis and Clark and each seemed to have his or her own idea of an appropriate name for the river. Supposedly, the Astor Expedition’s leader, Wilson Price Hunt, was enamored with the name Mad River, no doubt inspired by the rapids of Hell’s Canyon. Saptin River also was used for a time and eventually some felt it appropriate to honor the Shoshone tribe by calling it the Shoshone River. The story might have ended right then and there if it weren’t for a hand gesture.

The Shoshone tribe subsisted off the land, and the preponderance of salmon in the river at the time led the tribal leaders to refer to the mighty ribbon of water cutting through the landscape by an S-shaped hand gesture. The gesture was meant to convey the swimming motion of the rich stock of salmon found in the river. Pioneers didn’t make the connection and associated the S-shape with a snake, believing that the Shoshone were telling them that the name was Snake River. Though the settlers misunderstood their Native American brothers, it was too late by the time the misunderstanding was fully understood and, after a procession of monikers, the name Snake River was finally the one that stuck and is, of course, the name of the river today.

One final misunderstanding about the Snake River that exists even today is that it is as tranquil as the larger Columbia River into which it empties. Nothing could be further from the truth; the Snake River is a perfect example of the wilderness that Lewis and Clark experienced more than two centuries ago as they explored the land. While the guests aboard the American Empress will explore the region in comfort and luxury unimaginable to the early explorers, the riverboat itself will not travel far along the Snake River due to the river’s many moods, rapids and flood levels. The Snake River drops in elevation more than four times as much from source to mouth than the Columbia River which, in the 1800s, made it challenging for steamboats to penetrate the interior of the region. Most steamboats didn’t make it far past Lewiston where the Snake and Clearwater rivers come together. Over the decades, construction of dams along the Snake River made navigation all but impossible and today it is best explored up close on rafts or, in the case of our shore excursions, a thrilling jet boat ride.

At the American Queen Steamboat Company, we do more than just take you places. It is our mission to expand your knowledge, your understanding of history and your sense of wonder even as we expand your horizons with new destinations. We hope you can join us next year for the inaugural season of the American Empress in the Pacific Northwest and clear up any “misunderstandings” from yesteryear about the Snake River.