Inchelium Reflections: Early Seyler Valley Survival

Wilda Seyler Watts is the last of her siblings alive today. She is the daughter of Charley Seyler and Alice (Stensgar) Seyler. Her brothers were Alvin, Reginald, Glenn, Charles and Cecil.

She grew up in Seyler Valley in the 1930s and recalled some important parts of living in that era.

Wilda wrote the following:

"Wilda Watts does not consider this to be her life's story. Her goal from the start was to tell a story which reflect how people grew up and struggled through life either on or off the Colville Indian Reservation."

"Wilda does not consider herself to be a unique or special and never wished to be judged as a person or personal accomplishments. She hoped her experience in growing up and through life's travel experience will be viewed as common experience for the Colville Indian people both young and old."

"Wilda challenges every person who reads this to sacrifice a little something to improve themselves. Don't just live but to live life for a person bigger than yourself. Be an asset to your family, government or to the overall reservation."

"Wilda further challenges all readers of this to do a fraction of what our ancestors sacrificed to maintain the heritage of the Native American race."

She related some of the trauma to her husband Ken, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the demons he has from what he's been through.

"These demons try to come out at night as indicated by his restless sleep. I could also see them in the shadows that crossed his brow in those painful moments which he thought I wasn't looking. Those thoughts and viewings of Ken's struggle kindled imagination of what the Native Americans have gone through in year's past."

Above all, she hopes her story can help motivate the next generation of Colville Natives and that they will be proud of who they are any time and any place, just as she is.



How grandma tanned hides

Fall was the best time of the year to tan, Wilda says, because the deer's hide is the thickest or heaviest. The family would soak the hide in soapy water for several days. The hair was then cut off the hide and it was soaked again. They used the deer's brain to make a solution to tan the hides. She recalls seeing her family scrape off a white membrane between the hide and the hair with a knife. To do this her grandmother Philonise would take a fence post 5 feet in length and about six inches around. She would prop it up against a wall with the round side out, then drape the hide over it. She would work the hide around the post a little at a time until all was worked over.

Next, with a rock in each hand, she worked them over the hide in a saddle like position. She worked each side; on the outside to get every bit of membrane off, and the inside to get all the fat off. She also repeated using the brain solution while doing this.

Once the hide was softened, a fire was started with rotten willow wood which smoked a lot but wouldn't flame up. Around a five-gallon barrel, Philonise placed the hide in a tube like fashion. Over the bottom she stitched fabric, which somehow kept the hide from being scorched. It would be like a teepee.

The barrel was placed so the smoke would go into it. Fire was in the barrel. The longer the hide was smoked, the darker it got. They liked it darker because the more it smoked, the more it smelled like willow. If the hide wasn't smoked, it would be white.

The neck and shoulder were used to make the palm of gloves. This was because it was the thickest and would wear longer.

The whole process would take about a week, probably because Philonise was in her 70s or 80s.

Baskets

Baskets were made from green birch and cedar always carried an awl and strips of buckskin when camping.  Some were covered for protection, carried on horseback and they would rub up against trees. Used for berries.

After berries were picked they were set by a creek or spring in the bushes and a blanket would be hung to ward off animals.

We canned 200 gallons a year at least. We made Indian ice cream. We canned juice or dried berries. Trips on horseback were 4-7 days long depending on berries. It would take 1/2 day to full day to get anywhere. Went once a year. They would go to Twin Lakes then up onto the mountain about eight miles.



Life in the valley

From Wilda's childhood to her teens, through her young adult life and adult life she says she has lived only one way: "The hard way. The hard way with full speed."

In the olden days, she said, a person was thought highly disgraceful if they failed their family and tribal expectations.

Wilda was in high school when she got her first pair of pants. Girls usually wore skirts or dresses in that era. She says her mother thought pants were "awful."

In those days, people bartered for items more-so than now. Wilda made many things, some she gave away and some she recalled trading a local peddler for beads.

For food, the Seyler family raised animals. She recalls Philonise utilizing 120 acres for pigs and grain. Her brother Reggie had 134 head of cattle that could graze 900 acres.

She recalled taking her mother huckleberrying where she was tied on with a shawl — this was done in case you fell asleep on a long trip to and from the mountains. Sometimes they would stay three to seven days. Her mother was a "picking machine," she says.

Fool chickens were captured using a long stick with a string. They would tie a loop on the end and put up to the bird. The bird would put its head into the loop and you'd have your chicken for dinner.

A root cellar was utilized. They would take ice from the lake in blocks and lay hay on top. They would bring it on horse back about four to five miles.

Personally, Wilda stream fished in Hall Creek and Stranger Creek. With her shotgun, Wilda has claimed the lives of many moles.

"The mole population is not what it used to be," she says.

When she went hunting with her brothers, her job was to help "dress-out" the kill. She would get meat ready to put on the drying rack. She and her brother Charles were particularly good at drying the family's meat.

She recalled helping do lots of cooking for the family, and the hay and thrashing crews that would come work with them.

She would also help her brother Reggie with haying.

"We would trade-off on the tractor and tying bales," she says. "Our first bailer was with wires so each bale had to be tied."

When the equipment would break down, Wilda would always have to be the one to make the trips to Colville for parts. The store employees would always try to tell her she was buying the wrong parts.

One day on the 4th of July, Wilda was manning the tractor bailing hay when one of the tires had a blow out, effectively ending the work day in the field.

During harvest time, her brother Reggie ran a combine.

"I drove the truck to Hunters or Davenport," Wilda recalls. "Crossing the ferry was not easy. You can imagine how the (old) ferry dropped with a truck loaded with from 200 to 220 bushel of grain. Not my favorite thing to do but it had to be done."

Wilda's schooling

About a mile from her house was a one-room school where "all 8 grades" would attend. On one horse, two brothers and her would ride to school — one she attended until the third grade.

Her father bought a bus, and he owned it until the school district bought one of its own. She then attended school in Inchelium until she was a junior in high school. At that time, the school had a fire and was no longer accredited, so she lived with a family in Spokane to finish her schooling. She went to North Central for her senior year.

The first family she worked for to earn room and board was one the school helped her find. The second week during dinner the subject of her nationality came up.

"As soon as I mentioned I was a Native American, I was informed I had until the weekend to find another place to live."

Wilda called her aunt who picked her up that night and told her she could stay with her. Instead of being in close proximity to North Central High School, she walked 32 blocks each day one-way.

"I didn't have money for the bus, only during bad weather," she says.

A scholarship was available in the amount of $2,000 called the Potlatch Scholarship and she wanted to earn it. She learned she received the scholarship and entered "Eastern College of Education," which later became Eastern Washington University, among other names. At that time, she says, only teaching degrees were offered.

She attended for four years and graduated with honors. In those years, Eastern, which was known as the Savages for its sports teams, honored one female student a year for being Sacajawea of the class.

"The special ceremony was the passing of an Arrow from the outgoing student body president to the president for the following year," she said.



Wilda's work and married life

She taught first grade at Colville where the large classes had 32 students. They didn't have kindergarten in those days. She taught there for 10 years when she met her husband Ken Watts on a blind date. Ken was stationed at a radar site near Metaline Falls and was in charge of Food Service. She married him in September of 1956 and their travels began.

Ken was in the Air Force and cross-trained from Food Service to Electronics, which meant they and their growing family would travel to various military bases. He retired after 24 years in the Air Force as a Chief Master Sargeant. He then went to work for Weyerhauser, where he stayed for 22 years until his retirement.

Wilda taught in Spokane for one year, and eventually they moved to Yuma, Arizona for 17 months. Then to Crystal Springs, Mississippi. They kept traveling back and forth, as Wilda taught again in Spokane for six months before moving to Biloxi, Mississippi — where she stayed for 5 1/2 years.

Ken went to Vietnam and Wilda returned to Spokane with their family. Eventually, they moved to Seymour Johnson, North Carolina. They were checking in at the gate when they were told Ken's orders had been changed, and he was relocated to Westover, Massachusetts.

While in Massachusetts, Wilda took a job as a permanent sub with the primary goal of purchasing a second vehicle so the family could move west.

"This meant two children in each car — how nice," Wilda says.

Twenty-two months after that they were moved to McCord in Tacoma, where Ken worked until his retirement in 1974.

Her four children graduated from Clover Park schools. Three went to college and one went to the air force. She taught first grade for 14 years in the area before retiring, when she and Ken moved to Silver Lake, Washington.

In 1979, they began building their dream home, Wilda says. They had always wanted a log home, and utilized the Nespelem Log Homes company to purchase logs from her home reservation. So there in the somewhat close proximity to Mount St. Helens was a home made of Colville Reservation logs.

After the logs were shipped, Wilda's family helped build the home. Her daughter and husband came on weekends from Longview to help. Another daughter and her husband came from Marysville to help on weekends.

One weekend, the Lower Columbia Community College basketball team came to help.

"So we had some great height," Wilda says, "and the logs really moved."

They had 5,400 linear feet of logs, all were labeled as to which wall was its home.



The quilter

Upon her retirement in 1983, Wilda announced to her family: "Quilting comes first."

She took many classes and made many quilts of all sizes. She hand-quilted most of her projects for many years. Now, in her older age, she has them machine quilted or tied.

Her husband has a motto about her quilts, saying you know one is cozy when you recline and it "goes over the toes and under the chin."

She estimates she has made more than 300 quilts.

In 1987, she was honored to be the "Feathered Quilter" at a large quilt show in Longview.

Nowadays, in her older age, she requires 28 shots in her eyes "to keep my needle threaded."





Tree farmer

She and her husband Ken own a large Pine plantation in Mississippi.

"We try to go down there in the spring and fall," she says.

They have a modern "shack" to stay in. Because of the four poisonous snakes in the area, they work the property by using four wheelers.

"I only go into the woods if I'm on a 4-wheeler," she says, noting she doesn't hesitate to go full speed.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, many of their trees were put down.

A portable mill made the trees into lumber that Ken used to keep busy. Ken has made bedroom sets, tables, tool chests, hutch cabinets and many more items in his personal wood shop. Wilda has been one of Ken's helpers for projects, like gluing, clamping and plaining lumber.

"I also help find misplaced tools or that large tape measure," she says.





Article on Wilda

Wilda was featured in an article in the Tribal Tribune in 2015.

Click here for the link.