Among other things - Pipe dreams
<p>Dick Kintz of Polson shows the pipes that he recently returned to the Celilo Tribes Cultural Heritage Museum at the Dalles, Ore.</p>
<p>Dick Kintz's father, Paul Kintz, amassed this collection of more than 100 pipes and cigar holders from various parts of the world. Ironically, collector Paul Kintz didn't smoke pipes.</p>
Dick and Arlene Kintz went to The Dalles, Ore., last month where Dick presented several Celilo tribal pipes to the Celilo Tribes Cultural Heritage Museum. The pipes had been given to Dick’s father, Paul Kintz, who was manager of the Cornet 5 and 10 in The Dalles at the time. Thompson was village chief from 1906 to his death in 1959 at the age of 104.
Celilo Falls and the village were flooded in 1957 by The Dalles Dam and the village removed to higher ground. Dick Kintz said the museum is new and he thought it would be timely to give the artifacts to the museum. Included are a couple peace pipes and Tommy Thompson’s mother’s pipe.
The village chief, incidentally, had some important responsibilities as a member of the village’s Celilo Fish Committee, which regulated the fishery and resolved disputes between Indian fishers. As chief, Thompson decided when people could go out to the river to fish and called them in when they were done for the day.
According to the Oregon Historical Society, the chief’s wife, Flora Cushinway Thompson, said “…after dinner about 1:00, they [the fishers] would be waiting down there [at the river] He’d signal and they’d all go across.”He kept track of the time on his pocket watch and at 6:00 he’d signal for them to come home. Each one had to lock his canoe.”
The Celilo pipes were part of a large collection of pipes and cigar holders that Paul Kintz had collected over 100 pipes from all over the world. An article in the Sacramento Bee newspaper, staff writer, James K. Woodworth, said the artifacts included hard-carved pipes, a Scottish pipe with a single bowl but with two stems so two persons could smoke at the same time. There’s even a Syrian water pipe made of cut glass and tri-colored with a six-ft. flexible stem trimmed with ornamental trappings. It needs charcoal to keep the tobacco burning.
And there’s a German regimental pipe made of horn, teakwood and brass. It’s four feet long, has a glass bowl on which are inscribed 25 names of the men in the German regiment. The bowl and stem are topped by the hat worn by regimental members.
Two of the most valuable items are an Irish Lignite tobacco holder and an Alaskan Indian tongue biter made of lead and wood, hand carved with a trap door under the bowl. The trap door is used by the Indians when they want to chew the remains of tobacco in the bowl. The Irish tobacco holder is hand-carved with Shamrocks and other good luck symbols.