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Chapter 1Spirit of the FatherGramps found himself on the witness stand and he must havebeen 103 years old. He wore his trademark Native vest and no shoes.Thick socks covered his feet. Willie Frank Sr.’s hair, snow white andsomewhat askew, topped a slender frame. Deep lines etched acrosshis face revealed a lifetime on the river. His mouth curved inward.His brows furrowed. His intense eyes held stories and secrets. AnyIndian worth his salt knew Gramps. Many people called him the lastfull-blooded Nisqually alive.“If this Nisqually elder can’t go to the court, the court will go tohim!” Stephen Grossman was insistent. The administrative law judgepresided over court that day to hear Gramps’s words himself. Itmeant abandoning the formal courtroom and traveling south toGramps’s home, a legendary place known as Frank’s Landing. Courtcame to order as the Nisqually River rushed below the foothills ofMount Rainier, cutting a jagged line for eighty-one miles beforepouring into Puget Sound. The temperature crept upward. It was awarm August day in 1982. “This hearing is being held at Frank’sLanding in the home of Mr. Willie Frank Sr. to accommodate thewitness, the reason for which will become obvious on the record,”Grossman announced.The elder sat on the de facto witness stand—a favorite wooden11