Wa he lut, or Wahoolit, known to the whites of his era as Yelm Jim, was considered Leschi's most able lieutenant. (Wilkinson 19) The Nisqually believed his power flowed from the forces of thunder and lightning. (Wa he lut School 1)

History first takes note of Wa he lut in the tumultuous months following the signing of the Medicine Creek Treaty. When in October 1855, the territorial authorities dispatched the militia unit known as Eaton's Rangers to capture Leschi, many of the Indians took up arms against the whites. It is likely that Wa he lut, with a fondness for a good fight and an intense loyalty to Leschi, was among the first young warriors to do so. (Iyall 1)

Eaton's Rangers failed to capture Leschi, and there ensued several small battles that constituted the western part of the Indian Wars of 1855-56. Wa he lut may have participated in some of these battles. There are two tales, which stand in stark contrast to each other, of encounters between Wa he lut and the white settlers.

On March 2nd, 1856, Wa he lut is alleged to have been part of the group of Indians who fought and killed William White, a respected citizen who lived about twelve miles east of Olympia. The incident was witnessed by White's wife and another woman, who were riding in a cart, while Mr. White walked behind. The Indians emerged from the woods, and in the commotion the horse bolted. A group of Indians chased the cart almost to a block house, while another group fought with Mr. White. Although he lost his life, William White apparently put up a desperate fight, as evidenced by "visible signs left on the ground." (Meeker 158)

Another incident occurred just a day later:

A. J. Baldwin, the Olympia livery stable proprietor, was overtaken by four of the Indian band the next day near the scene of White's murder. He had not been in the militia, and Yelm Jim, the leader of the Indians knew him. In more peaceful times Jim had been filling his water bucket at a spring near the corner of 4th and Main streets in Olympia, which served as the town water supply. A white man had jerked the Indian's bucket away and thrown it into a mudhole, of which there were many in Olympia's streets. Baldwin had picked up the belligerent white man and pitched him head first into the mudhole after the Indian's bucket.

Baldwin was spared, and the incident is typical of the Indians' selective manner of waging war. Many of the settlers who had treated them fairly and did not take up arms against them were unmolested throughout the period of hostilities. (Newell 31)

Wa he lut is also known to have engaged in what Meeker calls "the last depredation" of the western war, the burning of Glasgow's barn:

The parties engaged in this foray consisted of only seven Indians with Wa-hoo-lit, known as Yelm Jim, at their head. They spread such consternation that in the current publications of the day the number soon ran to forty or more. This was the first depredation of any kind south of the Nisqually River during the whole war, and made such an impression on the mind of the Governor as to change the whole plan of the campaign. Maxon's company from near the Columbia was ordered to Olympia immediately; Shaw, who with his command was moving up the Columbia River, suddenly turned around and was on the way to the Sound. Energetic measures were inaugurated for scouting the whole country, but to no purpose, as the Indians had disappeared as suddenly as they had come. (Meeker 159-160)

Wa he lut's loyalty to Leschi was fierce and absolute. On November 13, 1856, Leschi's nephew Sluggia captured Leschi by deceitful means, turning him over to the authorities for a reward of fifty blankets. Although he did not act immediately-perhaps he waited to see what Leschi's fate would be-in October 1857, Wa he lut hunted down Sluggia, shot him, and rolled his body over the bluff near where Leschi would later be buried. (Meeker 210) In a stroke of irony, Leschi outlived his betrayer by five months.

Meeker describes Wa he lut, both as a young man and in his later years:

Old Wa-hoo-lit (Yelm Jim, as we call him now), was then a young man, unmarried, fearless and of a morose disposition, and age has not improved his temper very much. He has lived neighbor to the author now for forty years, but I have never known of any lawless act committed by him. He was tried, convicted and condemned to be hung for the murder of White, but reprieved the day before he was to be executed and sent at midnight to his friends without previous warning. (Meeker 160)

Wa he lut made yet another mark on history when, in 1893 at age 60, he joined Angeline and Moses, the children of Chief Seattle, in public discussions concerning the name of Washington's tallest mountain. The Indians had always called it Tahoma, or Tacobet. Captain George Vancouver, sailing into Puget Sound in 1792, dubbed it Mount Rainier in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier of the British navy. In October 1892, Yelm Jim is known to have signed his X mark on a statement saying the mountain was truly named Tahoma. (Wickersham)

Wa he lut lived on some years longer, finally passing away in June of 1908, at the age of 75. He was buried in the Leschi Burial Grounds in the Nisqually Reservation. (Carpenter 250)

Wa he lut, warrior of the Nisqually, is fondly remembered in the oral traditions of the Nisqually. They say that while cleaning his gun, he was often heard to exclaim, "Yep, we have one more good ride in us." (Iyall 1)

Wa he lut Indian School. 20 September 2004.

Cynthia Iyall, Leschi descendant in an interview with Melissa Parr, 20 September 2004.

Meeker, Ezra. The Tragedy of Leschi. Everett, WA: The Printers, 1980.

Newell, Gordon R. Rogues, Buffoons & Statesmen. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1975.

Carpenter, Cecelia Svinth. The Nisqually, My People. Tacoma: Tahoma Research, 2002.

Wickersham, James. "Is it Mount Tacoma or Rainier?" Proceedings of the Tacoma Academy of Sciences. Tacoma: News Publishing Company, 1893.