Oregon State Archives: A 1940 Journey Across Oregon

CELILO, 88.2 m. [West of Hwy. 730 Junction] (158 alt., 47 pop.), at Celilo Falls, is a canoe portage as old as the fishing stations still held by the Indians under a treaty granting exclusive and perpetual fishing rights to them.

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Lewis and Clark, finding seventeen Indian lodges along here, "landed and walked down accompanied by an old man to view the falls.... we arrived at 5 Large Lod(g)es of natives drying and preparing fish for market, they gave us Philburts, and berries to eate." A portage railroad, 14 miles long, was opened in 1863. The canals and locks here were constructed by the Federal Government in 1905 to accommodate wheat shipments. Below the falls the OREGON TRUNK RAILROAD BRIDGE spans the river, its piers resting on solid rock above the water.

"The drowning of the Celilo Falls fishery was an irreplaceable loss to the cultural, spiritual, and economic wellbeing of Native people whose families had used the site for at least 9000 years. The U.S. government paid those tribes whose people had traditionally fished at Celilo $23.5 million to extinguish their treaty fishing rights. It also pledged to increase scientific research to achieve better conservation of the fish runs in the future. The federal government built a new village near the Celilo site and relocated the residents. In the mid-2000s, as part of the agreement to compensate residents for the loss of Celilo Village, Congress allocated funds to rebuild the new village to address, among other issues, structural problems with the houses and inadequate water and sewage systems."

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Videos (By Others...)

Links

RECALLING CELILO: AN ESSAY BY ELIZABETH WOODY

http://www.gatheringthestories.org/2014/01/05/recalling-celilo-an-essay-by-elizabeth-woody/

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