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DAVID CAMPICHE PHOTOS
Descendants of Chinookan peoples gather at Fort Columbia State Park as a canoe docks bear-
ing a Tyee (Chinook) salmon for a ceremony.
keeping alive those legends
and stories and a spiritualism
that defines human beings
as significant. By any social
standard, this was a viable
civilization living in a green
paradise. This was their
home!
Today, on that tide that
rounds Scarborough Hill,
the hereditary real estate of
Chief Comcomly — around
that same rocky bulk-
head — came a handsome
cedar vessel carved by these
same folks that had prided
themselves for centuries
on a brand of extraordinary
craftsmanship — on the art-
ful, practical execution of a
water vessel we call a canoe.
Johnson beckoned the
vessel home. He intoned an
ancient greeting song in his
ancestor’s language. And if
you weren’t impressed, you
weren’t there. And from the
hold of that lovely vessel,
the canoe men and women
carried in a spring Chinook
on a plank draped with cedar
boughs.
The tribe carried it up the
hill to the gathering place,
and after more ceremony
(the young people feed
the slain Tyee salmonber-
ries) the fish was filleted,
staked and seared before an
open pit fire that radiated
the warmth of the annual
reunion. The fish was then
shared with guests and with
the Nation.
Tyee (Chinook) salmon, filleted and staked and seared before
an open fire pit.
The Nation will rise
again
Pride is like a tide. It ebbs
and floods. It dances and
parries. We see it in art, in
literature, in winning baseball
teams. And when it peaks,
it is as powerful as that big
flood tide that we see twice a
day on the Columbia.
It arrived that Friday in
that historic cove on the river
these people call “Wimahl.”
And there was hope and ex-
pectation that one day these
First Peoples would be whole
again — that the tribe would
be whole again.
Of course, civilizations
rise and fall. Of course,
those in power seldom hang
on to the principles and eth-
ics that brought them power
and comfort. It happened in
Egypt and Syria, in England
and Spain. It happened
everywhere on this fragile
planet. Sooner or later it will
happen in America. That is
why a great nation protects
the free press. That is why
there is social protest and
dissenting voices. That is
why we remember Martin
Luther King Jr., John F.
Kennedy, Rosa Parks and
Sitting Bull.
And that is why there will
be a renaissance for these
peoples, the Chinook.
Praise this fish. Share
its flesh and bounty. Rever-
ently lower the bones back
into the great river. Send
the message into the deep
ocean waters. The salmon
will rise again and return in
great numbers. The Nation
will rise again. They are
the Chinook. They have re-
newed pride. And they shall
overcome. CW
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