The Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects - PacifiCorp

Lewis River Interpretive & Education Plan
they valued cooperation and had a desire for smooth relationships with
neighbors. They have been called the blue bloods of southwest Washington, yet
they were also known as warlike. One of the earliest accounts describes their
swoop downriver to attack a Chinookan village at the mouth of the Cowlitz.
Another account describes the unsuccessful effort of war chief Wieno and others
to take slaves from a village on Vancouver Island.
“Today, though the Cowlitz are scattered, many still remain. Relatively few
actually live near the Cowlitz River (perhaps 30 or so families). Most of the 1,400
who belong to the tribe live within the radius of a two-hour drive, a recent poll
shows. The tribe’ s business office, presently in Longview, keeps track of the
network of Cowlitz individuals and families living, for the most part, in western
Washington. Biennial meetings in June and November on Cowlitz Prairie, the
tribal heartland, bring them together to renew themselves as Cowlitz as well as
to carry on the important business of fighting for their fishing rights, federal
recognition and for their own reservation and a Cowlitz tribal center.”
--by Judith W. Irwin, The Columbian, summer 1994
Yakama
The people today known as the Yakama Tribe are members of a number of
historically-distinct tribes and bands that have lived in what is now known as
the Cascade Mountains since “time immemorial”. These groups include the
Palouse, Pisquose, Yakama, Wenatchapam, Klinquit, Oche Chotes, Kow way
saye ee, Sk’in-pah, Kah-miltpah, Klickitat, Wish ham , See ap Cat, Li ay was
and Shyiks. Before 1855, these bands and tribes were separate entities, united
by trade relations, and some common language elements and life ways. Over
the centuries, they developed highly-refined craft and construction techniques,
including basketry, hide sewing, beadwork, mat-weaving, and lodge-building.
They became master traders, exchanging such commodities as fish, oil, furs,
jewelry, cosmetics, and horses with tribes along the Columbia and beyond.
Salmon were (and, of course, still are) absolutely central to their lives and
culture—both as food and as a trade item.
In 1855, leaders of the above tribes and bands signed the Yakama Treaty of 1855,
which united them into the Yakama Nation (leaders signing the treaty were
Kamaiakin, Sklom, Owhi, Te-cole-kun,La-hoom, Koo-lat-toose, Sch-noo-a,
Me-ni-nock, Shee-ah-cotte, Sla-kish, Elit Palmer, Tuck-quille, Wish-och-knipits
and Ka-loo-as). As part of this treaty, the Yakama ceded some 9.5 million acres
of their traditional lands to the US government, retaining a 1.3 million acre
reservation. However, the treaty granted them use of their ceded lands for “Usual
and Accustomary” fishing, hunting, and gathering—a very important right
that keeps the Yakama involved in the health and welfare of fish and wildlife
throughout the Cascades.
Sea Reach Ltd • 146 NE yamhill Street • Sheridan, OR draft 3 • November 2008 • page 59