Spilyay Tymoo
September 13, 1983 Page 3
Andrew David remembers...
When the salmon were
Salmon were abundant fo r fishermen casting nets into the Columbia River at Celilo falls before dams flooded traditional fishing areas.
by Marsha Shewczyk
The water on the Columbia
River was rising, alm ost
covering the scaffold where he
fished. To save his nets which
he spent most of his nights
tying he swam through the
swift current to his fishing spot.
“I care more for my nets than I
do myself,” he interjected as he
told the story.
Reflections on a life centered
a r o u n d fish in g on th e
Columbia River bring many
stories to mind. One story leads
to another and another. And
then the realization strikes that
things will never be that way
again. There is a sadness in
that.
Born in 1902 in Spearfish,
Washington, across from The
Dalles, Andrew David learned
fishing from his father, who
learned it from his father and
he, in turn, learned to fish from
his father. The fishing was good
near The Dalles at Celilo.
David especially had a good
fishing spot, inherited from his
father.
After his father’s death,
David only 16 years of age,
began fishing for his family on
the island rock between
Washington and Oregon.
David’s great grandfather
had established his fishing
place on that island. David
explains, “Walatipit organized
this big island. There was no
one there before.”
Walatipit would take his new
cedar canoe across the river
from Washington to fish off
the island. Eventually he
moved his camp to the Oregon
side. The water surrounding
the island was swift and rough
but he knew how to manage the
boat to get there with his
family, David adds.
Walatipit was killed and
his son Pakiyasha took over the
island. “They killed him, too,”
says David.
T h e n J o h n n y D a v id
followed Pakiyasha on the
island. With his family he
camped there in the summer
and returned to Warm Springs
'or the winter months.
In 1918 David began fishing
the island alone, after his
father’s death. He had been
fishing since he was five so he
knewexactly how to do it.
After working with his father
and learning for many years
ab o u t the salm on David
learned a set of values much
different than children today
Giving thanks to the creator foi
the bounty was wealth in itself
The salmon was used ji
ceremonies as well as daily food
and for trading with other
people for fruits and foods and
items not found on the
Columbia.
The c o n s tru c tio n of
Bonneville Dam made great
changes in the lifestyle of the
Columbia fishermen.” We lost
on it,” David estimates. And
then there was The Dalles dam,
‘Same thing again.”
David lost his island on
which his family fished for
years. “The people voted for
The Dalles dam,” he says. They
got $4 million, the fishermen
got nothing.
> With every year the salmon
count diminished. The fishing
placed were gone. The days for
the Indian f ishermen to make a
living were gone, also. Still,
David thrives on those days
when his life was fishing. .
“ Time when I was a
fishermen,” David relates,
“You know when there was no
dams. The salmon used to go as
far as he could go up the river.
They got a place to hatch
farther up the river in them
days.
“I seen lots of fish in my
times. I know when the fish
slacked. When they first build
the dam in Bonneville dam.
Never seen much salmon any
more. Every year Slack—slack.
“Now I read in the papers
how the salmon is moving
farther up the river, now,
passing dams. So, the way I
look at it could not be any more
better fish run like it used to be.
Them dams are just like the
water problem, just like a
pool—warm water. Salmon
hardly wouldn’t go up like it
used to. When we had real
natural fresh water in the
Columbia River was a time
there was a lot of salmon.
Plenty salmon go up the river.”
Reflecting upon the time
when the river was used
exclusively by the Indian,
David says, “They say I want
just your land, but the river and
all the food in the river is yours.
I’m not asking for that. That
belongs to you/’ When signing
the treaty these things were
said, David had been told. Now
he wonders, “I don’t know then
how the government and the
state got hold of all that.”
The diminishing fish runs do
not affect only those who used
to use the Columbia river for
fishing. The children and
grandchildren of those people
also must pay the price of lost
fishing sites and rights.
From the heart, David
speaks, “It hurts me when I
thinks like that. If I didn’t had
no children I wouldn’t care. I
got children and lot of
grandchildren and that hurts.” Edna D avid (left) and Stella McKinley (right) Jry salmon at
Celilo.
Andrew D avid sits in his home at D ry Creek.