Chief Multnomah is theorized to have been an 18th-century Willamette leader in the Columbia River Valley. Thought to be a fictional or mythic character, some recent study of the work of Ann Fulton suggests he may have been a real individual who held significant power in his prime. [1] He is depicted in Hermon Atkins MacNeil's 1904 sculpture, Coming of the White Man , located in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon. [2] [3] However, it is a generally agreed upon fact that Chief Multnomah was an invention of 19th century writer Frederic Balch in his text titled The Bridge of the Gods: A Romance of Indian Oregon.
