The traditions handed down say that the land, north of Redwood creek, where it goes into the ocean, extended far out into the sea to the large rock that is now known to the white people as Redding rock, has continually washed away leaving this rock jutting up from the ocean depths and can be seen for many miles over the surrounding area of land and sea. This rock is located at a distance of about ten miles from the shore and is called by the Indians Sa-quan-ow. This name translated into English means an acorn pestle, a conical shaped stone, carved out of granite and is used to pound acorns and grass seeds into the finest flour. Long ages ago Redding rock extended up from the ocean to a great height, and from a distance appeared to be a huge Sa-quan, or pestle, hence its name. After ages of erosion the massive rock became surrounded by water and the receding bluffs left it alone out in the ocean where its greater portion has crumbled and fallen beneath the waves as it is seen today. The Indians still call it Sa-quan-ow.
There has been but little change in the channel of the Klamath river, except at its mouth since our arrival in this land. In olden times the channel of the river was very deep and clear and much narrower than it is now and large bars of alluvial soil composed its banks, where luxuriant grasses grew, and upon these lowlands during the winter months great herds of deer and elk would graze, coming down from the snow covered mountains. The channels of the large creeks and tributaries of the river, such as Blue creek, (Ur-ner) Tec-tah and Pec-wan have practically never changed as they still flow into the river in the same places. Where the Trinity river flows into the Klamath river it has made but little or no change during the passing ages as has been handed down to us.
We have no word of severe earthquakes in our regions, but have had slight shocks from time to time throughout the centuries. We have no tales of any great damage ever done by earthquakes and our people never held any fear of tremors of the earth. But my people tell of great tidal waves that have swept our country. They say a long time ago one swept up the Klamath river to the mouth of the Trinity river, a distance of over forty miles, and did great damage, as it swept away houses and thousands of our people were drowned and carried away by the rolling waves of the ocean, so few of our tribe were left that they were well nigh exterminated. Many smaller tidal waves have swept over the coast where the destruction was not so great.
They tell of epidemics that came up the river and laid us low in the devastation of life, thousands of our people would pass away in a single season; they would die so fast that they could not be buried and many of the bodies would be thrown into the river. The only way we could keep the whole tribe from complete devastation by the ravages of these dreadful diseases was to abandon the dead and leave the river and go back into the high mountains and there we built bark houses and remain until the snow and cold would compel us to retreat to the lowlands again. In our mountain home we subsisted on wild game, berries, pine nuts, roots and herbs. Some of our people would have such a terror of the fatal diseases that they would refuse to return to their homes and would brave the fierce storms of the cold winter until they were convinced that all dangers had ceased. In our traditions of the passing centuries many of these epidemics have almost devastated the land of human life. During one of these contagions it was said that the children would go down to the river to swim and would lie down in rows from six to twelve in number upon the sand, as if they were alive and had been placed there by careful hands; but they would be in their eternal sleep, contagion having overtaken them.
CHAPTER V.
TIME AND NAMES.
WE have ten months for one year, and four seasons, as follows:—
1st month: Caw-cha-witch.