Trade Center for 10000 Years

Trade Center for 10000 Years. . The Dalles has long been a center of commerce between the Pacific Coast and inland Plateau. Chinook Indian traders, negotiated trade using "Chinookk jargon,' a mixture of Salish, Nootka, Chinook, and eventually English. Here could be found trade goods from all over the Northwest, Great Plains, Great Basin, and even Great Lake regions. , Scholars have noted that the trade center at the Dells was unparalleled elsewhere in North America. By the late 1700s, trade goods supplied by European and American maritime fur traders could be purchased at the "Great Mart" at the Dalles of the Columbia River. As Lewis and Clark approached the Dalles they could see the impact of European trade goods on the local people. The journals mention scarlet and blue cloth, blankets, sailors jackets, a musket, sword, and brass kettles. , The most significant center of trade in North America had produced a culture of inspired traders along the mid-Columbia. 10,000 years of presiding over annual trade gatherings had made Wishram, Wasco and other native people wealthy. As well established middlemen, the local people controlled the flow of goods up and down the river. , The leaders of the expedition did not understand that the people of the Dalles were powerful businessmen who did not want to be challenged by these foreigners. Lewis and Clark also did not understand that the meager trade goods remaining in the expedition's cargo were unimpressive to such wealthy people. When the captains complained about prices and were impudent with the slow pace of trade, the local people responded negatively. The expedition members became "note (?) friends" and the rules of trade changed to a competition for gaining advantage, not to trade goods of equal value. Non-friends also were considered trespassers on the local trade route. Paying of a toll was expected and would be taken if not offered.