March 27,
2008“Four empty ladders stood
two rows over. The Immigration and Naturalization Service
officers had made a sweep early that morning, and the illegal
Mexicans working for Stephenson had run off to hide. When the
INS people showed up, they thought they had bagged a couple of
illegals until they figured out Danny and Jack were Indians. The
Hood River County sheriff was with them and seemed to enjoy
their disappointment. (River Song, p. 35)”.
1950s and '60s life in Hood River and
the Columbia Gorge with pear and apple picking in Parkdale,
salmon fishing on the Columbia River, a special dinner at the
Columbia Gorge Hotel, platform fishing at Celilo Falls, the
watchful eyes of Tsagaglalal (She-Who-Watches), sizzling forest
fires and a Nez Perce Indian named Danny Kachiah. This is the
stuff of the splendid storyteller, Craig Lesley, in his River
Song (1989), a truly remarkable and compelling novel.
Lesley teaches at Portland State
University and Pacific University in Forest Grove. I asked, “Why
did you, a white man, write about Indians?”
He responded slowly, thinking about his
answer. He said, he had read Jim Welches, Winter in the Blood,
published in 1974, an historical novel about American Indians in
Montana. But he was struck by the fact that nobody had written
about contemporary American Indians on the west coast.
While living on the east coast, he began
his first novel, Wintersong, published in 1984, where he
introduced a younger Danny Kachiah, the main character in River
Song.
Danny Kachiah is modeled after one of
Lesley's Indian friends. His friend, Danny, survived fighting in
Vietnam only to return to the United States to be killed in a
car accident. Danny is immortalized in this book as the
“Everyman” of Indians. River Song is a fictional story of an
American Indian living in the Columbia Basin in the 1950-'60s.
Although Lesley writes fiction, his
memories and collected stories about real people, real events
and oral histories are the grist of his fiction.
Growing up, Lesley lived in Madras, The
Dalles, Warm Springs and spent many Sundays at Celilo Village
with his grandfather, a newspaper man who didn't have to work on
Sundays.
He also worked at his Uncle Oscar's
Sports Store in Madras (fictionalized in The Sky Fisherman)
where he heard back-room stories from both Anglos and Indians
telling of elk hunts, stupid fishermen, stick walkers and many
inexplicable events. He weaves into his stories actual events,
such as the Chinese Massacre of 1888, forest fires in eastern
Oregon and the Pendleton Rodeo.
River Song is a fictionalized history of
the Columbia River Gorge, taken from real people, places and
events and seen through the eyes of Danny and his son Jack.
Lesley thinks River Song was written
ahead of its time. He noted when it was published in 1989, no
one cared to read it. It got very little attention, even though
he had received several awards for his earlier book, Winterkill.
Now, 20 years later, he is pleased with
the attention it is receiving; it is part of the curriculum in
many high school English classes and has been selected in many
localities as a community reads book. He recounted that recently
he had to present Winterkill and River Song, to the sales crew
at Houghton Mifflin because these sales people don't read the
novels they are selling. He had to read some sections aloud, and
he said, “I think they hold up pretty well.”
I agree with him; I think they hold up
pretty well.
Craig's wife, Kathy, is his number one
editor. He tells of her critical feedback when reading about a
salmon feed in Celilo Village when she commented, “How many
salmon do you think people can eat?”
He laughed at the memory and said, “If I
can get it by Kathy, I can get it by the guys in New York.”
