Editing Thorp, Washington (section)

===Native Americans===
The [[Kittitas Valley]] was occupied by the Kittitas ([[Sahaptin language|Yakama Ichishkíin Sínwit]]: ''Ki-tatash'')<ref>Patricia Roberts Clark, ''Tribal Names of the Americas - Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced'', Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (1948) pp. 110.</ref> or Upper [[Yakama Nation|Yakama]] tribe, as well as hunting and food gathering parties of [[Cayuse people|Cayuse]] and [[Nez Perce tribe|Nez Perce]]. The area was rich in wild berries, fish and game, and neighboring tribes annually converged on the valley in April or May to harvest Indian onions ([[Allium|''Allium spp.'']]), Indian potatoes (''[[Claytonia lanceolata]]''), and breadroot (''[[Lomatium canbyi]]'').<ref name="walker">Deward E. Walker, William C. Sturtevant and Deward E. Walker, Jr., ''Handbook of North American Indians, Plateau, Vol. 12.'', Washington DC: Government Printing Office (1998) pp. 333.</ref> The various tribes engaged in [[horse trading]] with early [[British people|British]] and [[Americans|American]] [[fur]] traders, and had peaceful relations with [[Jesuit]] [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Missionary|missionaries]] who preceded them.<ref name="welch">[http://www.workforceexplorer.com/article.asp?ARTICLEID=10138&PAGEID=94&SUBID= Carol Welch, Ph.D. and Roger Miller, Kittitas County Profile, 2010-01.]. Retrieved 2011-09-19.</ref>

In the 1840s, [[White people|white]] settlers began to pour into the [[Oregon Territory]] (and later [[Washington Territory]]), bringing with them a [[measles]] epidemic and other diseases deadly to the indigenous population. That, coupled with cultural differences such as [[plow]]ing the [[Soil|ground]], which was seen as desecrating the [[Native American religion|spirit]] of the earth, led to confrontation between Native Americans and white settlers.<ref name="welch"/>

The largest [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast|indigenous]] settlement in the Kittitas Valley at the arrival of the white settlers was ''Klála'', a village of around 500 people located about one mile above the present town of Thorp along the [[Yakima River]] opposite the [[Mouth (water stream)|mouth]] of Taneum Creek. Further up the river, about six miles northwest of present-day Thorp was the [[village]] of ''Tátxanixsha'', and four miles below Thorp was a village of around 400 people called ''Yumi'sh''.<ref name="walker b">Deward E. Walker, William C. Sturtevant and Deward E. Walker, Jr., ''Handbook of North American Indians, Plateau, Vol. 12.'', Washington DC: Government Printing Office (1998) p. 327.</ref><ref>Charles M. Hodges, Christian Miss and Johonna Shea, ''Cultural Resources Survey for the Desert Claim Wind Power Project'', NWAA Report Number WA03-39, Seattle: Northwest Archaeological Associates (2003), pp. 15.</ref>

Among the earliest records of Native American interaction with [[frontier]]smen in the Kittitas Valley took place in 1858, the summer of the [[Yakima War]], when a large contingency of [[Wanapum]] from [[Priest Rapids]] camped at the head of Taneum Canyon very close to where the town of Thorp is now located.<ref name="daily19680430">''Daily Record'' (Ellensburg, Washington), "Links traced in Thorp family chain," 1968-04-30, pp. 3.</ref>

They were led by [[Smohalla]],<ref name="daily19680430"/><ref name="kennedy">George W. Kennedy, ''The Pioneer Campfire ... Anecdotes, Adventures and Reminiscences'', Portland: Clarke-Kundret Printing Co. (1914), pp. 300.</ref> the legendary dreamer-prophet associated with the [[Native American religion#Waashat Religion or Dreamer Faith|Washani or "Dreamer Movement"]] among the native peoples of the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Smohalla claimed that [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] came to him through [[dream]]s, and he preached a return to the original way of life before white influences which included [[ritual]] music and [[Dance|dancing]]. His speaking was called ''Yuyunipitqana'' for “Shouting Mountain".<ref>Carl Waldman, ''Atlas of the North American Indian'', New York: Checkmark Books (2009) pp 229.</ref>

Rumors floated that Smohalla was preparing for [[battle]]. An exchange took place in which Rev. George W. Kennedy, a frontier [[Methodism|Methodist]] [[preacher]], traveled to the location of the camp in an attempt to make [[peace]] as he had become alarmed that such a large assembly meant hostility. By all accounts, Smohalla was not easily intimidated. "He looked like a [[Monarch|king]]. Stolid as a [[statue]]," Kennedy said of meeting him. The preacher exhorted, "God had made us all brothers and not enemies" and "the Great Father want[s] us all to live together in [[World peace|peace on earth]]."

If that is [[Truth|true]], Smohalla demanded, "Why has the white man taken our lands from us? Has the white man any [[rights]] here in [the] Kittitas that the Indian has any right to respect? The Indian came first."

It was, Kennedy conceded, "an unanswerable [[speech]] ... And I promised utmost [[friendship]] on the part of the white brothers. We gave them our [[Handshake|hand shake]] and pronounced [[benediction]] of [[God]] on them, and Chief Smohalla agreed to accept that as the [[Ceremonial pipe|Pipe of Peace]]."<ref name="kennedy"/><ref name="lyman">William Denison Lyman, ''History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties'', The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. (1917), pp. 762–777.</ref>

[[File:ThorpFMThorp1822-1894.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Thorp is named for Fielden Mortimer Thorp (1822-94), the first permanent white settler in the Kittitas Valley.]]