When Gods Became Mountains
By Jay Stoeckl, MAT, OFS, June 19, 2026
When God’s Became Mountains
a Native American legend adaptation by Gabriel Paulson
In one of my recent tour trips, an elderly traveler from back east asked me if there were still Indians in the Northwest. I answered that Indians were not only surviving in and around the coasts and highlands of the Cascade Mountains, but that their culture and language has sustained itself far more than other parts of North America.
The following is a story adaptation of a legend as told by the peoples who had lived in the forests for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
Come, my people, gather by the fire and hear the great tale about the mountains all around us.
Long ago, before we were many, there was the great Tyee, the leader of the people to the north. His name was Sahalie. And Tyee Sahalie had two sons. One was the elder Klickitat and the younger was Wyeast.
Throughout their youth, Klickitat and Wyeast hunted along the great Wimahi River. There the hunting was great and the two brothers, living in peace, wondered about the peoples to the south.
Klickitat and Wyeast were both tall and very strong. But even they could not survive the crossing of the great river Wimahi, whose currents carved out the great canyons.
One day, the brothers were hunting along the river shoreline when they spied a most beautiful maiden named Loowit.
Loowit was full of fire with eyes that shined like the stars and teeth as white as the great waterfalls on the south side of the river. Knowing how the two young men gazed at her, Loowit would blow kisses at them from the water’s edge, for she knew they could do nothing in order to reach her. The great Wimahi was wide, deep, and swift and could drown a bear.
Klickatat thought himself deserving of Loowit, for he was the older brother. Wyeast thought Klickitat to be too selfish and undeserving of such a beauty.
Their father, Tyee Sahalie rolled his eyes when he heard his two sons argue over a girl neither one of them could reach, for there was no crossing of the great river. What was the point of claiming what was never theirs to have?
Now Coyote was clever and filled with mischief. When the gods argued among themselves, it gave Coyote plenty to do for his own entertainment. His yipping and hollaring was his laughter that echoed throughout the dark, moonlit nights.
Coyote pondered his mischief for weeks while watching the young men throw rocks at each other over the girl. And he saw how the girl’s own mischief was due to her knowing they could not cross the river to reach her.
So, Coyote called the wolves and tricked them into running with their pack to catch him. Coyote knew well how to evade the wolves. He would appear on a distant hillside only to disappear and appear again where the wolves did not suspect.
Knowing that a particular mountain had become fragile with age, Coyote tricked the wolves into chasing him there. As the wolves trampled the hilltop, the mountain gave way into a massive landslide of rocks and earth. And all the boulders that once made up the side of that mountain splashed into the Wimahi and a land bridge was formed.
For the first time, Klickitat and Wyeast were elated. Now, they could cross the river of the great land bridge, the Bridge of the Gods, and woo Loowit into their very hearts.
On the south side of the Wimahi, Loowit had heard the landslide and did not comprehend at first what had happened. Then she spied Klickitat and Wyeast entering her village in search of her. Her heart sank deep within her chest, for she knew now her game was up!
When Loowit had to choose which of the men would be her husband, she had to choose Klickitat, for Klickitat was much more like his father.
Wyeast was enraged and he drew firey rocks out of the village fire and cast them at his brother. His brother picked up his own firey rocks and cast them back.
The fighting made Tyee Sahalie upset beyond measure. He knew the people could be selfish and fight amongst themselves, but now his own two sons were making spectacles of themselves in front of the mortals. So, Sahalie made an important decision.
Knowing Wyeast was the perpetrator of much of the trouble, Sahalie turned the younger son into a mountain there near Loowit’s village on the south side of the great river Wimahi.
He saw Klickitat dance and hollar his victory and he saw how Loowit no longer smiled, for she could no longer tease the two brothers into fighting over her. And in a loud voice, she ranted and complained and let the peoples know of her anger.
Seeing their selfishness, Sahalie called Klickitat and Loowit to where he sat to the north. The two of them were also transformed into firey mountains.
Alone now, the mighty Tyee Sahalie had no one to call his children. And he realized he had done them great harm. For once a person is made into a mountain, they will remain a mountain until the end of time.
So Sahalie sat on a large rock. In his sadness, he too became a mountain, the largest mountain of all.
And Sahalie remains there to this day, asleep, never wanting again to disturb anyone. For if someday he should awaken, an inferno of lava and ash, rocks and debris would cover and destroy the peoples of the north.
Sahalie sleeps near present day Tacoma and Seattle. He is now known as Mount Rainier.
Wyeast, asleep on the south side of the Wimahi (or Columbia River), is now guarding over the city of Portland in Oregon. He is better known as Mount Hood.
Klickitat remains closest to his father up in the north. He is now Mount Adams.
And that firey, firey maiden, the cause of so much mischief, does not sleep for long. She still wakes up to remind the world of her anger, devastating the world around her.
And you may have guessed it. Loowit is Mount Saint Helen’s.
That was back when the gods all became mountains.
For other tales by Gabriel Paulson, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FKQDZN6
Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.