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Chapter 9The Shelf Life of TreatiesThe battle over Indian fishing rights appeared interminable in 1973,an assembly line of expensive court cases that had cycled through theAmerican justice system for decades. The state sued Indians. Indianssued the state. A lot of Native fishermen went to jail. The United StatesSupreme Court had first taken up treaty fishing rights nearly seventyyears earlier, in 1905, before most Indians were American citizens.Theodore Roosevelt sat in the White House then, and Albert Einsteinhad proposed the theory of relativity.In 1973, treaties brought the U.S., Indian tribes, and the state ofWashington back to court, yet again. The judge would decide whatIndian ancestors understood when they ceded land to the nation inthe 1850s.U.S. v. Washington brought immediate and long-term ramifications.Washington Indian tribes had everything to lose, and everything togain. A tribal victory would peacefully return an Indian to the riverand put salmon back on the table. Native Americans could practicetheir heritage. A tribal loss would threaten livelihoods and eventuallycustoms. To Billy, no court damages awarded to the tribes couldmake up for the loss of the salmon. While no one would catch the lastfish in Billy’s lifetime, he worried about future generations, when a128