Tsagiglalal, She Who Watches, is an example of Native American art located high on the basalt rocks on the northern side of the Columbia River near Horsethief Canyon and lake. A longer translation of this name is “She who watches and sees all who are coming and going up and down the river.”

The book, Weird Washington, explains that “there is no doubt that Tsagiglalal was meant as a magical protection for the people who lived in her village for centuries.” The legend is that:

Long ago, in the before time, the Great Spirit wandered the world. He traveled along the Great River (the Columbia) and stopped at a village. He asked the people if they lived well or in poverty. They said that they were happy because of the guidance of their chief. He asked where their chief was, and they pointed to the hills above their village. He went up to the hills and found a woman sitting in front of a hut, looking down at the village. She told him she was the chief, and she looked after her people, teaching them ow to build and live well. He told her, ‘the world is changing and women will no longer be chiefs. What will you do now?’ The woman asked the Great Spirit to turn her into stone, so that she could continue watching over her people. As a sign of mercy, he did just that, and her image was painted into the rockface overlooking her village. She is still there today, looking out over a world that has changed very much since her time…and not always for the better.

Hikers can climb to view Tsagiglalal on tours with Park Rangers by appointment only. I’m glad that she is protected from vandalism and so can continue to watch over her people.

You know you’re Irish; that your ancestor came from Ireland, but do you really know HOW and WHY he or she emigrated? There was more than one type of Irish emigration:

Emigration from Ireland began as early as 1603, when people immigrated to areas such as continental Europe, the islands of the Caribbean, the British colonies, and other parts of the British Isles. Emigration increased during periods of civil or religious unrest or famine in Ireland as well as during various gold rushes in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. The period of greatest emigration began around 1780 and reached its peak from 1845 to 1855, when between one and two million people left Ireland because of the potato famine. The following categories of emigrants account for most people who emigrated from Ireland:

• Free emigrants. Starting in the seventeenth century, emigrants left Ireland to seek opportunity in a new land; to flee religious persecution, poverty, or oppression; and to seek political asylum following rebellion in Ireland. These left on their own recognizance.
• Assisted emigrants. In the nineteenth century, qualified emigrants received passage money or land grants as incentives to emigrate. Assistance was viewed by officials as an alternative to providing poor relief for able-bodied, unemployed workers and for the starving masses during famine. After 1840, colonies such as New Zealand and Australia offered money or land grants to skilled workers to attract needed immigrants. These were helped to leave by the government.
• Transported prisoners. From 1611 to 1870, more than fifty thousand Irish criminals were sentenced to deportation to a penal colony for a number of years. Beginning with Irishmen who rebelled against Cromwell’s army in 1649, political prisoners were also often deported. Many Irish prisoners were sent to America, primarily to Virginia and Maryland, until 1775. From 1788 to 1869, over forty thousand Irish prisoners were sent to Australia. Many of those deported were later pardoned on the condition that they would never return to Ireland. These were mostly unwilling to leave.
• Military personnel. Soldiers serving overseas were offered land or other inducements to settle in the colony where they were serving when they were discharged. This settlement practice was common for soldiers in Australia from 1791, Canada from 1815, and New Zealand from 1844.

I picked up a 2004 issue of Nostalgia magazine and the blurb right on the cover caught my eye:  “A Whale Visits Spokane.”  Wwhhaaaatt?

Author Peggy Cunningham (a past EWGS member) wrote how in the summer of 1930 her Dad loaded up the family and off they went to Spokane to see the whale. Let Peggy tell the story:  “As I remember it was a warm day and Dad let us off by the railroad station. Mom paid for us, maybe ten cents each. Following the “SEE THE WHALE” signs, we soon were caught up with the rest of the crowd. When the pace of the crowd began to increase, we followed and soon smelled the reason for their hurry. We could see the (railroad) flatcar completely covered with the huge smelly carcass! With hankies to our noses we hurriedly looked and then made a hasty retreat to meet Dad.”

Peggy explains the beginning of this “whale tour.”  “The whale tale started in Massachusetts in 1930 when two friends happened to find a dead whale washing ashore on a local beach. Seeing an opportunity to make some money, they rented a railroad flatcar, pumped the monster full of formaldehyde, hoisted it onto the flatcar, and went from town to town charging admission to see the whale. They made sure that local papers in the towns along the route where they were planning to stop received an enhanced story……. their bonanza ran out when an unendurable odor began to rise from the corpse. (They soon) made a decision to call it quits, rolled the whale off the flatcar onto a vacant lot near the railroad tracks and buried it under a scant three feet of earth.”

This same photo appeared in the Nostalgia article but was taken about 1913 in Florida. Guess there were more than one “whale on tour.”

In 1930 my husband’s father was living in Spokane. Wonder if the family also went to see the whale?? Did somebody in your family?

TIP OF THE WEEK – 
FamilySearch BLOG
It can be a daunting task to stay abreast of all the updates and enhancements constantly being made by FamilySearch. To assist you in this quest, consider checking out their BLOG. Updates to FamilySearch are listed there in reverse-chronological order!

For example in March 2021, a new feature was installed to allow you to see which other researchers are following the same person/ancestor in a tree that you are following.   

There are also links to a list of enhancements from prior years. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog.  You will see:

• More Updates from 2020
• More Updates from 2019

I like the Nov 2, 2020, enhancement. It lets you create a slide show from the photos in your “Memories” area. You can then share this slide show with your family by emailing them a link. They do not need a FamilySearch account. Or you can share the slide show on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.  FamilySearch has made this process easy.  

Read about all the updates at FamilySearch on their blog here: 
https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-updates/