Comments on Cafe Unknown: The Wil / Wal Controversy From Cascades frozen ...

As a graduate of Willamette University and a resid...

2012-02-14T15:29:25.517-08:00

As a graduate of Willamette University and a resident of Portland I just LOVE this article. As for how to say it we always had a saying on the pronunciation of the word with the simple "It's Willamette Dammit" but I'm sure there is a lot more history to the pronunciation. :)

Abandoned trails, great fun, great frustration. L...

2012-01-26T16:52:07.885-08:00

Abandoned trails, great fun, great frustration. Let me know if you're ever interested in getting out there! Of course it is much nicer in the drier months.
Also, thank you for adding Green Cascadia to your blog list, it is an honor.
Some day I'd like to pick your brain regarding historical research. It is very difficult to find much history on the Mt. Hood area and especially the Clackamas Watershed. With most of the indigenous gone by the 1830s there are many unsolved mysteries out there. Even recent Forest Service history is hard to come by as time marches on.
I see you also give talks on Portland history, very cool. That is no easy task. I will have to make an effort to make one. I grew up in Chicago and always marveled at the incredible history and architecture wantonly destroyed for short sighted reasons. Some places are vibrant in spite of themselves...
Keep up the great work!
-Bob

Bob- Thanks for the kind words! Interesting abou...

2012-01-13T16:07:14.773-08:00

Bob-

Thanks for the kind words! Interesting about what you posted on the Skyline trail- that hikers in the 1920s would have different routes than today's. I like the idea of finding abandoned trails. Ive added Green Cascadia to the links column.
-Dan

Unknown- I've been trying to parse out the var...

2012-01-13T15:56:44.335-08:00

Unknown- I've been trying to parse out the various pronunciations. For Wallamet, I found myself putting the accent on the first syllable- Wal-a-met, but Deady, the ultimate authority, said the accent was on the second syllable Wa-lah-met.

Recently I emailed a friend of mine in Eugene and asked what the river was called in the earliest writings at that end of the valley. He wrote back that he found Whilamut- which sounds like a combination of the Wal version and the rhyme that you mention.

Another friend of mine from Newburg mentioned he had heard something along the lines of Willy-met colloquially while growing up there. This sounds like a version that Francis Fuller Victor criticized as being along the lines of Georgyette or Jonnyette. She of course was very much in the Wal camp.

Its interesting, there was a lot n the proper Wal pronunciation, but not much on the Wil in the writings- I suppose because it was dominant, they felt it was self evident.

-Dan

Hello! I have been reading your blog for years, a...

2012-01-11T09:25:48.080-08:00

Hello! I have been reading your blog for years, and it's great to see you keep at it. You're a great writer and researcher. I'm always amazed at the detail you present. It's as close as one can come to time travel.
I have a blog focusing on the history of the Mt. Hood National forest that was inspired by your writing. I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look!
www.greencascadia.blogspot.com
thank you
-Bob

Now that we have the spelling figured out, I would...

2012-01-09T11:45:25.271-08:00

Now that we have the spelling figured out, I would like to know the history of the pronunciation of Willamette. As you know, one of the things that marks the difference between an Oregonian and an outsiderer is the pronunciation of Willamette.

Long ago, I read in a source I no longer remember, of a poem published in our pioneer days, that went something like this:

There will be a bridge, I see it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette.

It looks like the writer of this rhyme used the pronunciation "Willa-MET" instead of "Wul-AM-ut" as we do today.

Was it formerly pronounced differently? How and when did the current pronunciation come about?