Tyee Creek

William and Sadie Vandevert's youngest son, Dr. Arthur Vandevert, came all the way from Kentucky to visit the the ranch every summer with his family. They loved to go camping in the Cascades and were so in love with one particular creek that he and his daughter wrote a poem about it. Tyee Creek rises west of Mt. Bachelor and flows into Devil's Lake on the Cascade Lakes Highway. The word "tyee" is jargon in the Chinook language for "chief". It comes from the proper word for chief in the Nootka language of Vancouver Island.

Probably written in the 1940's or 50's, the poem is accompanied below by photgraphs of Tyee Creek taken on August 1, 2011.

The Little Tyee
by Arthur and Sallie Bird Vandevert

I have heard the song of the rivers
That flow leisurely down to the sea,
But this is the song of a brooklet—
The song of the little Tyee.

Nestled away in the great Cascades
Who, glacier clad as they be,
Give of their melting waters
To cool the little Tyee.

It flows not deep nor leisurely,
But splashes and bubbles with glee.
It’s a sparkling, laughing river—
This happy little Tyee.

On the moss-covered banks are pine trees
That shelter this rivulet so free,
Their shade is soft and grassy
On the banks of the little Tyee.

Waters as cold as the northland,
As pure as waters can be.
A gift God denied the city
Is the beautiful little Tyee.

I may live forever and ever,
And travel o’r many a sea,
But the memory always shall linger
Of the peace by the little Tyee.