Tamastslikt Cultural Institute
PENDLETON, OREGON Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, the interpretive center for the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes, starts the year with a commemoration of one of the most devastating events for tribes living along the Columbia River: the 1957 destruction of Celilo Falls, once the most popular fishing and trading place in the western United States—long before there was a United States.
Celilo Falls was inundated on March 10, 1957, upon completion of the dam at The Dalles, Oregon. It took less than a day for Celilo Falls to be covered with water behind the completed dam.
The exhibit, “Memorializing the Death of the Sound of the Falls,” runs through June 10, and includes an ancillary exhibit, “Discovering the Rivers of Lewis and Clark,” about the Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Columbia rivers.
Tamastslikt is seeking loans of Celilo memorabilia from Indians and non-Indians to include on a community wall. Items sought include photographs, newspaper clippings, |
receipts for Dalles Dam settlement expenditures, artwork, fishing gear, model canoes, and memories that people can record on video or audio. People with items to loan may call Randall Melton at 541-966-9748. To make an appointment to record memories, ask for Susan Sheoships.
The exhibit includes a map where fishers can mark where they used to fish and write a description of their experience. Huge aerial photos of Celilo Falls from 1935 offer insight into how nature shaped the land (illustrating the prehistoric Missoula flood), and other displays illustrate how the Indians’ lives changed as a result of the Lewis and Clark expedition and visits from missionaries and Canadian explorer David Thompson. “Ken Karzmiski, director of The Dalles Discovery Center, has been instrumental in developing the exhibit, helping us find rare historic photos and artifacts,” says Tamastslikt’s Charles Denight.
Co-sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The History Channel, and with content by National Geographic, the exhibit strikes an even-handed tone on matters of controversy, Denight says.
Tamastslikt Cultural Institute is located on the grounds of Wildhorse Resort & Casino, 10 miles east of Pendleton. (866-282-2022; www.tamastslikt.org)
|
Museum at Warm Springs
WARM SPRINGS, OREGON - Celilo Falls is being remembered at two more Northwest museums this year. At the Museum at Warm Springs, “Looking Back to Celilo Falls through Memories, Images and Voices of Our Elders” opens June 21 and runs through September 9. The museum, on Hwy 26 on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer. It’s about two hours from Portland between Government Camp and Bend. (541-553-3331; www.warmsprings.com/museum)
Yakama Nation Museum
TOPPENISH, WASHINGTON - The weekend of June 8–10 is a time for remembrance at the Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center and Museum.
A Celilo Falls exhibit opens at the museum, featuring a collection of archival photos donated to the Yakama Nation and never before viewed by the public.
This weekend is also the Yakama Nation’s Treaty Day commemoration and the anniversary of the Cultural Heritage Center. The entire facility is open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center, occupying 20 acres in a park setting, offers a comprehensive view of the history and art of the Yakamas, known as the Plateau People. Also on the property are the Heritage Inn Restaurant, Winter Lodge banquet and convention facility, Heritage Movie Theater, a public library, a specialty gift shop, and a large RV park. (509-865-2800; www.yakamamuseum.com)
Northwest Travel May/June 2007 |
