Celilo Falls and the Remaking of the Columbia River [dvd preview]
http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/video/flash/Celilo.html
Columbia
River Basin Clickable Map
http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/report/colmap.htm
Celilo Legacy
http://www.celilowyam.org/
Life on the Edge [a 12 minute Oregon State film on riparian zones]
http://media.oregonstate.edu
Columbia River Gorge Real Time Camera
http://www.fsvisimages.com/cori1/cori1.html
OREGON SEAGRANT VIDEO: Celilo Falls
"This documentary examines a turning point in the history of the Pacific Northwest.
For more than 10,000 years the native peoples of the region lived successfully off
the land and waters as hunters, gatherers, and fishers. Salmon was a mainstay of
the Indians’ diet, and the tribes of the Columbia River were particularly linked to the
fish not only for their food but also as an integral part of their religion and way of life.
For millennia Celilo Falls was the great Indian fishery on the mid-Columbia, and it
drew Indians there from throughout the West to trade for salmon. But in 1957 the
federal government began operation of a giant hydroelectric dam at The Dalles that
drowned Celilo Falls and ended the fishery there.
Through a combination of rare historic films and photographs, Celilo Falls and the
Remaking of the Columbia River provides a glimpse of the life at Celilo as it once
was and considers the cultural, social, and political forces that brought about its end,
signaling a new era in the relationship between people and nature. The history of the
development of the Columbia for industry and commerce is conveyed through archival
film footage from the Bonneville Power Administration, the Oregon Historical Society,
and other sources.
This 2007 edition marks the 50th anniversary of the inundation, with additional rare
Celilo footage provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."
Oregon's Oldest Town
http://www.ccrh.org/comm/river/celilo.htm
"In her writings on Celilo Village, Hood River author Martha McKeown called the tiny
fishing community Oregon's oldest town. Salvage archeological digs prior to the completion
of The Dalles Dam confirmed that Indian people had continuously occupied the village site
for at least 11,000 years.
Longevity was not the area's only significance. Prior to white contact, Celilo and the area
now known as The Dalles linked a trade network that extended from the coast to the Great
Plains, from what is now Alaska to the present state of California. Indians from all over the
Northwest came to trade, socialize, and fish with local residents. From the south came
obsidian, slaves, and shells; blankets and beads came from the north; pipestone, buffalo
meat, and horses from the east; and wappato from west of the Cascades. Central to this trade
network was the abundance of salmon. The arid climate of the mid-Columbia allowed Indians
to air dry much of the salmon they caught for trade and later use." [...]
Salmon Nation: Recalling Celilo
[...] "Wyam means "Echo of Falling Water" or "Sound of Water upon the Rocks." Located
on the fourth-largest North American waterway, it was one of the most significant fisheries
of the Columbia River system. In recent decades the greatest irreversible change occurred
in the middle Columbia as the Celilo site was inundated by The Dalles Dam on March 10,
1957. The tribal people who gathered there did not believe it possible." [...]
Source to Sea: The Columbia River Swim
One must see the film to believe what Christopher Swain has accomplished for
the Columbia River . .
[...] "the story of Christopher Swain’s 13-month swim for clean water and human rights
down the entire 1,243 miles of the Great River of The West. Special attention is paid to
salmon, dams, tribal issues, and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation."
Source to Sea: The Columbia River Swim
Producer: Andy Norris
Length: 49m 3s
Watch in streamed RealAudio at:
http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/ramgen2.php?url=rtsp://204.133.177.15/6/3/64978_media_
files_media_6396_stream.rm&content_id=1365
Echo of Water Against Rocks
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/film/Echo.htm
A strikingly beautiful preview can be viewed of the film . . .
"The creation of Dalles Dam on the Columbia River was heralded by some as
a symbol of a new era of hydropower, while for local Native Americans it assured
the end of a 10,000 year-old way of life. Historical footage and eye-witness personal
accounts captured in this documentary portray the effects felt by the local residents.
If Celilo Falls was one of the most sacred places in the Pacific Northwest, was it's
destruction worth the building of the dam? This film explores the dilemma that we
face as a society, is so-called progress worth the devastation of natural and cultural
resources?"
