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The information on this web site about the history of the Tcha Peenafu and their link to Mary's Peak was researched and written by two people who found an interest in the Peak and wondered who lived near it before European settlers came to the area. They quested for knowledge, both in their own way.
Maria Serrot, artist and writer who wondered about the spirit of the people, their relationship to the land and nature sought the story from archives not often visited. She asked the question, "who lived here before pioneers and why was the land so unchanged for all the thousands of years they lived here."
Frank Hall, with a degree in Anthropology and an interest in linguistics studied the manuscripts of researchers and tried to decipher the meaning of the Kalapuya words. He sought to know the truth of their words so that he could reach back through time and try to understand the Kalapuya and finally learn the meaning of the word "tcha Timanwi", name attributed to Mary's Peak. Both sought to know the Kalapuya. Both started their quest at about the same time.
Between June 1986 and March 1987 Maria Serrot, myself, and several other women edited and wrote a Corvallis neighborhood newsletter called "Potlatch, Corvallis neighborhood Community news". The newsletter came about because of a plan (The OSU Plan) by local developers to tear down most of our older historical neighborhood and replace it with a major thoroughfare to 9th street in Corvallis. Those who worked on the newsletter sought to educate the people of the neighborhood and the citizens of Corvallis to value the place so we would not lose it.
Starting in the September 1986 issue, Maria Serrot began to write about the history of the neighborhood starting with the native people who inhabited the area around Corvallis before and just after European-descent pioneers appeared in Oregon. During the next six months Maria was to research and write about the subject, uncovering some very valuable information about not only the neighborhood we lived in, but also the Chepenefa, th native peoples, and a member of the tribe who was called Shawala. He may have lived in what is now Corvallis' Avery Park. What was most exciting is that she uncovered documents that gave the "Pinafu" name for Mary's Peak. Maria used the Benton County Historical Museum in Philomath as a starting point. With the help of Judy Juntunen, the research librarian, she found the works of Melville Jacobs, and Stephen Dow Beckam. She was able to borrow further material from the Melville Jacobs collection at the University of Washington which gave a more detailed account of the daily lives of the Mary's River band through the voice of Shawala.
During this same period Frank Hall visited Judy Juntunen and was given the same pile of books, manuscripts and stories. He sifted through the words, old pictures, and wondered if the sometimes difficult spellings were correct. His curiosity arroused, he asked the Benton County Historical Society to sponsor him so he could gain access to the Melville Jacobs collections at the University of Washington Library. In this collection he discovered a language - melodic words with many meanings. Words that were descriptors of man's relationship with nature. Even Shawala had more than one name. And what of Mary's Peak - what did the Kalapuya call Mary's Peak? Read his story to find this out.
In 1992, a Boy Scout, Sky Colley began his Eagle Scout project to erect a monument to the Kalapuya at the confluence of the Mary's River and the Willamette Rivers in Corvallis. Sky who was part Wasco and part Eastern Cherokee invited the great-nephew of Shawala, Merle Holmes, to the ceremony. Sky had started his project by contacting Judy Juntunen at the Benton County Historical museum and she in turn shared the work of Maria and Frank. Frank was called to make sure the Kalapuya words were spelled and used correctly.
As I look back at these events I feel as if each person was called to do their part to tell Shawala's story. Judy was at the hub of the wheel - feeding information to each researcher. "Look here, look there... don't give up," she told them. Maria, Frank and Sky did well. It is the time to hear that we must live lightly on the earth and treat it with respect just as the Kalapuya did for a thousand years or more. By placing Shawala's words on the World Wide Web we have made sure the Tcha Peenafu live on.
