Mount Coffin Destroyed by Fire in 1841

Mount Coffin Destroyed by Fire in 1841. Mount Coffin was a basalt mound near Longview, Washington covered in burial canoes In 1792, explorers reported approximately 3,000 burials at the site The site was used by the Scalutes. people who practiced cranial modification

Mount Coffin near Longview, WA held thousands of burial canoes. In 1841, Lt. Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition visited the site and conducted observations atop the 700-foot basalt mound. Epidemics killed an estimated 90% of lower Columbia River Native Americans. The site was used by the Scalutes people who practiced cranial modification. Historical accounts indicate the crew's campfires caused significant damage to the burial site.

Key Facts

• Mount Coffin was a basalt mound near Longview, Washington covered in burial canoes
• In 1792, explorers reported approximately 3,000 burials at the site
• The site was used by the Scalutes. people who practiced cranial modification
• In 1841, Lieutenant Charles Wilks conducted astronomical observations on the site
• Wilks and his men left campfires that consumed almost the entire site
• Approximately 3,000 burial canoes and remains vanished
• Anthropologists estimate 90% of lower Columbia River Native Americans died from epidemics around this time

Source: Signs of Lost Civilization in Pacific Northwest United States by DeDunking