Tahoma legends : history in two voices

Summary: This work about Indian legends of the Mount Rainier area arose out of a larger review of ethnographic data pertaining to Mount Rainier National Park. In the process of compiling ethnographic data about the Park, it became apparent that Indian legends about Mount Rainier rarely had been recorded in a formal anthropological sense. For the most part, they had been presented selectively in local history books and documents to illustrate Indian relationships to the mountain, as perceived by non-Indians. In most popular accounts, the legends had been altered in their essence and often also in their themes. This work presents a collection of these legends, derived from a variety of anthropological, historical, and popular sources. The discussion includes the relationship that two American cultures, the Indian and non-Indian, have developed to the mountain, and how each has adapted its own legends to incorporate elements of the other culture. The legends are discussed in the context of two different cultural settings, one that calls the mountain Tahoma, the other Mount Rainier. -- Amazon