The Myths and Legends of the First Peoples of the Americas
in the region Many of the locations mentioned in the legend can be found on a map of present-day Washington state An Overwhelming Appetite Long ago when the world was very young no people lived on earth Only the Watetash the animal people roamed the land One of the Watetash was an enormous king beaver who went by the name of Wishpoosh Wishpoosh resided in Lake Keechelus high in the snow capped Cascade Mountains Wishpoosh was a very destructive beaver He had a great appetite and ate absolutely everything that came his way Soon he had eaten all the smaller creatures in the lovely mountain lake as well as those that lived on the shore Then he began devouring all the trees and the plants that surrounded the lake 8 The Myths and Legends of the First Peoples of the Americas
Kittitas Washington lies beneath the Cascade Mountains Pacific Northwest Indian Legends 9
Wishpoosh was destroying so many creatures and so much vegetation that Speelyei the coyote god of the mid Columbia region decided that he must do something to stop Wishpoosh Speelyei jumped into Lake Keechelus and struggled with Wishpoosh They rolled and twisted and fought each other causing the waters of the lake to boil Wishpoosh became so violent that he tore out the banks of Lake Keechelus and the waters flooded down the canyon sweeping everything before them At the bottom of the canyon the waters stopped and held against the rocky ridges forming another lake This lake was larger than Lake Keechelus and covered the Kittitas Valley But the struggle between Wishpoosh and Speelyei was not over yet Wishpoosh continued to thrash about madly eating everything that he could find growing larger and larger as he ate For a while the rocky ridges restrained the flood but Wishpoosh had become so large and so strong that at last even the ridges gave way and the loosened waters swept down to fill the great basins of Cowiche Naches and Ahtanum Yet even these basins surrounded by their hills could not hold the monster beaver Before long they too gave 10 The Myths and Legends of the First Peoples of the Americas
way and the waters flooded down in a torrent through the Yakima area The waters cut a passage through barren hills and filled the level plains of what are now Simcoe and Toppenish For a long time this water was dammed by the Umatilla highlands but Wishpoosh did not give up As before he continued to thrash about eating everything he could find in the waters and everything he could find on the lands Finally again he broke the rocky hills that kept the waters in and the water flooded to form the greatest lake of all between the Umatilla on the east and the Cascade Mountains on the west The entire area was under water Yet even this huge lake could not hold the frenzied beaver After a time the mighty Cascades gave way before his onslaughts The water then flowed to the sea draining all the valleys behind But even that was not the end of Wishpoosh A Continuing Threat Once in the ocean Wishpoosh devoured all the fish even the whales He threatened all creation Speelyei saw that he must bring an end to Wishpoosh or the world would be lost Transforming himself into a floating branch he drifted to Wishpoosh and was soon swallowed up Pacific Northwest Indian Legends 11
