John Brockhaus

John Brockhaus taught in South Seattle for 20 years. He also spent a dozen years as a commercial fisherman in Puget Sound and Alaska.  He recently read his stories at the FisherPoets Festival in Astoria.  He is writing a collection of stories about Washington state Natives and their encounters with whites.

When Settlers Burned Herring’s House, an Ancient Duwamish Settlement

Archaeologists believe Herring’s House to have been the longest continually inhabited native village in North America. Then, in a few minutes during March of 1893, Herring’s House fell to an arsonist’s torch, and a 1,300-year history went up in smoke.

The Salmon Chief and the Day Celilo Falls Was Lost

When the spring Chinooks surged up the river next year, the fishing culture at Wy’am would be no more.  The United States Government was about to pierce the heart of his proud culture with a concrete dagger.

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