Klahowya: A Fort Nisqually Book in Chinook Wawa and English

We are happy to announce that Klahowya: A Fort Nisqually Book in Chinook Wawa and English is now available for pre-purchase!

Available for in-store pickup beginning April 26th during our Klahowya Event!

Follow the Fort Nisqually cats Mahsie and Eena on a tour of the fort while learning about Chinook Wawa. Chinook Wawa, or Chinook Jargon, was a trade language used by Native Americans along the west coast of North America, Hudson's Bay Company employees, French-Canadian fur trappers, and the American settlers who came to the Puget Sound region.

In this book, you will learn the very basics of Chinook Wawa and common words that would have been used around the time of Fort Nisqually's operations.

Klahowya, meaning "welcome", was written by Fort Nisqually Volunteer Christine Pinto and illustrated by Fort Nisqually Historical Interpreter Christine Schuler. Photographic reference images were done by Sydney Paulson and Christine Schuler. Brianna Showalter assisted with editing, formatting, marketing, and getting the book ready for print.

A special thank you to Jim Lauderdale, Sarah Hoenig, and Mitchell Fermo for supporting the creation of the book. And a big THANK YOU to all of the Fort Nisqually staff and volunteers who lent their likeness to depictions in this book.

Finally, our deepest thanks go to Grandfather Roy I. Rochon Wilson - also known as Itswoot Wawa Hyiu (Bear Who Talks Much), of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe - without whose teachings this book would not have been possible. We are so grateful that Grandfather Roy was able to see a draft of the book and talk with us about it before his passing in February of 2025.

Mahsie, Itswoot Wawa Hyiu.