Skookum is a Chinook Jargon word that has historical use in the Pacific Northwest. It has a range of meanings, commonly associated with an English translation of "strong" or "monstrous". The word can mean "strong", "greatest", "powerful", "ultimate", or "brave". Something can be skookum, meaning "strong" or "monstrously significant". When used in reference to another person, e.g., "he's skookum", it conveys connotations of reliability or a monstrous nature, as well as strength, size or hard-working. Derivative words Skookum house means 'jail' or 'prison' (cf. the English euphemism the big house, but here meaning 'strong house'). Skookum tumtum, lit. "strong heart", is generally translated as 'brave' or possibly 'good-hearted'. In the Chinook language, skookum is a verb auxiliary, used similarly to can or to be able. Another compound, though fallen out of use in modern British Columbia English, is skookum lacasset or 'strongbox'. Skookumchuck means 'turbulent water' or 'rapids in a stream or river', literally 'strong water' (chuck is Chinook Jargon for 'water', 'stream' or 'lake'). It is a common placename in British Columbia, Washington and Idaho. The term is used for tidal-exchange rapids at the mouths of inlets and bays, a regular feature of the Inside Passage, especially Skookumchuck Narrows. Monsters A skookum is a variety of mountain giant or monster similar to the Sasquatch or Bigfoot. In the surviving Chinuk-Wawa spoken in Grand Ronde, Oregon, this variant is pronounced differently—skoo-KOOM—but when used in English with this meaning, it is pronounced the same way as the "big and strong" meaning. Skookums were bad spirits or devils of which crows, eagles, owls, blue jays, various beasts and reptiles could be representations. They could inhabit people and cause serious illness. Dolls A derivative usage of the skookum-as-monster context was the application of the name to a souvenir Skookum doll, sometimes simply called "a skookum". Mary McAboy first started making Skookum dolls in 1913 and received a patent for them in 1914. They were popular from the early 1920s until the 1960s. They were factory-made dolls that resembled Native American people and were sold to tourists at trading posts in the western United States. Early dolls heads were made of dried apples with the bodies made of wood and stuffed with either leaves, straw, twigs or grass stuffed in a muslin sack. Later the dolls were made from composition and had mohair wigs. Later dolls were made of plastic and had plastic brown