Celebrating Native Americans in the Gorge
November is National Native American Heritage Month. During November and throughout the year, we celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of the First People of this land. We also educate around the challenges and injustices that Native American people have faced in the Gorge, and their resilience.
To make way for the The Dalles, John Day, and Bonneville dams, the federal government wiped out thriving Native American settlements along the Columbia River. When the dams were being built, federal officials promised to develop new permanent housing for Native Americans whose land would be flooded, but that housing never materialized. The dams also decimated the salmon runs that many depended on for sustenance, economically and spiritually. The salmon’s cultural importance to the region cannot be overstated. For thousands of years, local tribes have harvested salmon and steelhead on the Columbia River. Celilo Falls (pictured below) was a 12-mile stretch of cascading water that served as the hub of the region’s salmon fishery. The Dalles Dam closed its gates, submerging Celilo Falls, in 1957. Despite the decline in salmon, many Native fishermen can still be seen fishing the river and its tributaries, using boats and scaffolds with long handled dip nets as their ancestors did for thousands of years. Click here to learn how you can support local Native fisheries.
Two commemorative displays are set up at One Community Health’s The Dalles and Hood River clinics to recognize and celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Through the month of November, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) has loaned One Community Health two of their historic photos of Celilo Falls, showing Native Americans fishing there prior to the dams being built on the Columbia River. We extend our thanks and appreciation to CRITFC, who One Community Health worked with to establish OCH’s Native American Health and Wellness Team. For more on the team and the services provided to Native American communities in the Gorge, click here.
Celilo Falls Native Fishing Site
One Community Health’s Native American Health and Wellness Team