Celilo Falls and the Remaking of the Columbia River

Audio: Music

 

Video: Black and white historical photos of Columbia river and Indian fishing boats.

Audio - Narrator: For thousands of years the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest lived successfully off the land and waters as hunters, gatherers, and fishers. The Northwest was a good place to live, since wild food was relatively abundant.

Video: Photos of Native American fishermen and salmon

Audio - Narrator: A mainstay of the Indians’ diet and in some locations the single most important food, was salmon, the fish that every year swarmed out of the ocean and up the rivers to spawn.

Video: Map showing location of Celilo Falls

Audio - Narrator: And probably the most important location for catching salmon was Celilo Falls, on the Columbia River near the present day Oregon town of The Dalles.

Video: Historic film footage of Bonneville Dam construction

Audio - Narrator: Celilo Falls has been gone for decades now, flooded in 1957 when the federal government erected a giant dam that raised the level of the river. The fall of Celilo represents a turning point in the history of the Pacific Northwest.

Audtio: Indian women singing

Video: On-screen title: Celilo Falls and The Remaking of the Columbia River

Video: Historic footage of Indian fishing platforms at Celilo Falls

Audio - Narrator: The name “Celilo” -- or “wyam” in the Indian language, means “echo of falling water.” Indians gathered at these waterfalls, this unique and powerful transition on the river, just as the adult salmon did.

Video: Indian fishermen using dipnets

Audio - Narrator: The Indians usually fished with nets on the end of long poles, and most often wielded these dipnets from platforms.

Video: Fishermen carrying huge fish

Audio - Narrator: For the Indians, fishing was not a sport. For many, the salmon meant food for their families. Salmon were also goods they could trade or sell.

Video: Fisherman dipping net into rapids and eventually bringing up a large salmon

Audio - Narrator: For many, salmon meant even more. The fish were part of a way of life and a living expression of something eternal, a certain relationship with the natural world.

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