9th
“Celilo Stories: New Conversations About an Ancient Place”
Notes from the conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the drowning of Celilo Falls, Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, March 17-18, 2007.
Keynote Speaker Charles Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law, University of Colorado at Boulder:
Listening to stories of Indian life before Lewis and Clark has provided “the purest joy of my professional life.” … “We are commemorating the loss of Celilo Falls. We are celebrating the 10,000 years of culture.” … Celilo Falls is “forever at the center.” … “No one in charge seemed to hear or care …. Only Indian people asked questions that needed to be asked.” … “America was in a hurry and wanted results now.” … Dam supporters claimed “The Dalles Dam would improve fish runs by destroying the fishery at Celilo Falls.” … A passive society “left it up to the experts.” … The Dalles Dam is the “biggest fish killer on the Columbia River.” … “A wrong against nature and people was committed.” … Support “the movement to decommission The Dalles Dam.” … We are “in an era of dam removal” — the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, Snake River of Oregon and Idaho, Klamath River of Oregon and California. http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/108.4/wilkinson.html
Elizabeth Woody, poet, artist, director of the Indigenous Leadership Program at Ecotrust:
“Plants and animals live by natural laws. Only man breaks them.”
Chief Wilbur Slockish, Jr. of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Indian Nation:
“When we ran this country, there was an abundance of everything.” … “You drink water, you breathe air, you eat from the land. We’re all in this together.”
Chief Johnny Jackson of the Cascade Band of the Yakama Indian Nation:
“River People didn’t have (tribal) names. They were all one people.” … “You treat the old man (the river) right, and he’ll feed you and take care of you.”
William Robbins, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History, Oregon State University:
“The river wants to run free again.”
