Mount Coffin
| Mount Coffin | |
|---|---|
Mount Coffin as it was in 1900
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| Highest point | |
| Coordinates | 46°07′43″N 122°59′16″W / 46.1287229°N 122.9878905°WCoordinates: 46°07′43″N 122°59′16″W / 46.1287229°N 122.9878905°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Longview, Washington, U.S. |
| Topo map | USGS Kelso |
Mount Coffin was a promontory in what is now Longview, Cowlitz County, Washington, U.S.. It served as native burial grounds for the Skillute, a Chinook Jargon speaking tribe who practiced above-ground interment of their deceased. The memaloose illahee, or cemetery was named by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton of George Vancouver's expedition aboard the HMS Chatham in 1792. The landmark was leveled for its gravel during construction of the Port of Longview.
Mount Coffin was 240 feet (73 m) tall and was formed by sediment carried by the Columbia River and Cowlitz River, which coagulated at the merging point of these two entities. The material consisted of basalt sediment, mainly material derived from volcanic ash.
In 1792, Lieutenant William Robert Broughton of Vancouver’s expedition aboard the HMS Chatham explored the lower Columbia; he recorded: “a remarkable mount, about which were placed several canoes, containing dead bodies; to this was given the name of Mount Coffin.”
“Coffin Mountain was so called because of the Indian burying ground which was observed there where the dead were placed, as was the custom, aloft in primitive coffins supported by stakes.”
In November 1805, William Clark reported the hill as a "very remarkable Knob rising from the edge of the water". He said it was about 80 feet (20 m) high, and "about 200 paces around at its Base."
William Clark described interaction with the indigenous population: trading beaver skins, berries, salmon, and wappato. Merriwether Lewis commented between their variance in speech from the tribes that lived farther inland. Due to the Skillute’s trading patterns along the Pacific coast they spoke a different pidgin that adopted coastal variances than the tribes who lived farther inland.
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Wikipedia