Why Wy'east

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Wy'east is the original name for Mt. Hood, given by the Multnomah tribe of Native Americans who first inhabited the area. 

It comes from a legend in which the two sons of the Great Spirit Sahale fell in love with the beautiful maiden Loowit, who could not decide which son to choose. The two young men, Wy'east and Klickitat, battled viciously over Loowit, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Sahale, greatly displeased by this, became enraged and smote all three lovers, erecting mountain peaks to mark the place that each fell. Sahale created Mt. St. Helens for Loowit, Mt. Hood for Wy'east, and Mt. Adams for Klickitat. There are many legends out there of how these three beautiful mountains came to be but this one is our favorite.

Later, Lewis and Clark spotted the mountain on October 18, 1805. A few days later at what would become The Dalles, Clark wrote, "The pinnacle of the round topped mountain, which we saw a short distance below the banks of the river, is South 43-degrees West of us and about 37 miles (60 km). It is at this time topped with snow. We called this the Falls Mountain, or Timm Mountain." Timm was the native name for Celilo Falls. Clark later noted that it was also Vancouver's Mount Hood.

We chose to name our company Wy'east to honor those who are native to this land that we call home. When looking into the meaning it spoke to both of us and our history. My wife is of Native decent and Mt. Hood to me represents the beautiful Pacific Northwest. When we began searching for a name this one seemed to be the perfect fit.