Coyote Creates Willamette Falls

Coyote Creates Willamette Falls. Santiam Kalapuya. "Let us make a waterfall across the river." Meadowlark said to Coyote. So they made a rope by twisting young hazel shoots. , Holding one end of the rope, Meadowlark went on one side of the Willamette River; holding the other end, coyote went on the other side; and carrying the rope between them, they went down the river until they came to a place near where Salem is now. There they stopped. "Let us make the waterfall here," Meadowlark called across to Coyote. But she spoke in Clackamas, and Coyote knew only the Kalapuya language. He misunderstood. , Instead of making a waterfall, he turned some animals into rocks. They could be seen along the riverbank near Salem until not long ago. , Meadowlark and Coyote walked on down the river until they came to where Oregon City is now. "Let us make a waterfall here," Meadowlark said. This time she used the sign language too. Coyote understood. , So they stretched the rope tight. Coyote pulled hard. Meadowlark pulled with all her strength and pressed her feet hard agains the rock she was standing on. Then Coyote called on his powers and turned the rope into a rock. The river poured over the rock. That is how Willamette Falls happened to be made in Oregon City in stead of at Salem. , Meadowlark pressed her feet on the rock so hard that she made footprints. Her footprints stayed there for hundreds and hundreds of years. They could be seen until the locks flooded the flat rock where she stood. , From "Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest" by Ella E. Clark as told by John B. Hudson, Santiam Kalapuya, 1952.