"Lionel Youst and William R. Seaburg recount the compelling life story of Coquelle Thompson, an Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian little known except by the Siletz Reservation community and a handful of visiting academics. Thompson's life spanned nearly a century, from 1849 to 1946.

During his lifetime, he worked along the Oregon coast as farmer, hunting/fishing guide, teamster, and tribal policeman, and, perhaps most importantly, he served as an expert witness on Upper Coquille and reservation life and culture for anthropologists.".

"While captain of the tribal police, Thompson was assigned to investigate the Warm House Dance, the Siletz Indian Reservation version of the famous Ghost Dance, which had spread among the Indians of many tribes during the latter 1880s. He witnessed the sense of empowerment it brought to some on the reservation. Thompson became a proselytizer for the Warm House Dance, helping to carry its message and performance from Siletz along the Oregon coast as far south as Coos Bay."--BOOK JACKET.