Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
April 6, 2022
Page 7
After the flood: Remembering Celilo
On t h e s ixt y - f i f t h
a n n iver s a r y o f t h e
tragic flooding of
Celilo Falls by The
Dalles Dam, the River
People gathered to re-
member, revisit, and
look ahead.
On a sunny day in March, tribal
members gathered on the green
stretches of Blue Lake Regional
Park. They were baking salmon,
and had moose and deer on the
grill. A canoe was in the water and
canopied shelters were scattered on
the grass. Tribal elders and veter-
ans from several tribes of River
People were on hand, greeting one
another with open arms. Lots of
gifting was going on: blankets and
other items of friendship and rela-
tionship.
Their singing and dancing were
enlivening the atmosphere. Kids
were watching and learning and
cutting loose. “The young people
got to dance, and listen to the
prayers, and listen to the mes-
sages,” said Aurolyn Stwyer, Celilo,
Warm Springs and Wasco member.
Aurolyn is a master beadwork
artist who was one of the
gathering’s main organizers.
It was a celebration, and a re-
membrance, and also an act of
determination. Sixty-five years to
the day earlier—on March 10,
1957—the floodgates of the newly
completed The Dalles Dam were
closed.
Within hours the mighty Celilo
Falls, river-broad and forty feet high
and about thirteen miles upstream
on the Columbia River, disap-
peared.
The river flattened, the waters
opened for barges and closed for
salmon, electricity began its flow
to urban areas and irrigation water
to vast parched agricultural fields.
And a way of life that had survived
and thrived for since time imme-
Joe Cantrell/Oregon ArtsWatch
Canoeists welcomed the ceremonies and the day at
Fairview’s Blue Lake Regional Park.
morial disappeared along with the
falls.
Brilliant beadwork and other
traditional designs brought a sense
of celebration to the gathering.
It’s difficult for people who
never saw the falls flowing freely
to comprehend what was lost.
“Our falls flowed three times
greater than Niagara Falls,” Ms.
Stwyer said. And the river was
thick with fish: “Twenty-two thou-
sand salmon a day was the marker.
And now the count is so low.”
The dam changed everything.
Celilo Falls had been the center of
river life. People fished there, gath-
ered there, traded there, on routes
that extended into present-day Brit-
ish Columbia and California and
eastward to the Great Plains.
They celebrated there, arriving
from up and down the river that
linked their lives. No more.
The flooding of the falls fol-
lowed by a century the U.S. gov-
ernment breakup of the river
tribes and scattering of their
people to reservations on either
side of the Columbia River—
some, including the thousand-plus-
square-mile reservation of the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs—on lands far from the
river and what had been their pri-
mary food for thousands of years,
requiring a completely different
relationship to the water and land.
The Middle Oregon Treaty of
1855 also transferred ten million
acres of traditionally Indigenous
land to the United States govern-
ment; land that was then opened
to white settlement and exploita-
tion, including industrial havesting
of salmon rather than the Natives’
one-on-one relationship with the
fish.
On the anniversay day last
month, all of that history was in
the background. But the empha-
sis was on now, and on this re-
gathering of Celilo, Rock Creek,
Warm Springs, Umatilla, Yakama,
Nez Perce, Colville people. “All of
the river tribes were in the lineup,
equally,” Stwyer said.
It was the river, in a way, gath-
ering back its own: roughly 400
people, many of whom hadn’t
seen one another for a long time,
in large part because of the long
covid isolation.
“It was just really good to be
out together,” Aurolyn noted. “We
haven’t done much for ovee two
years.”
The gathering began in the
morning with sacred ceremonial
greetings and continued through
the day, with everything from the
traditional preparation of salmon
In the Tribal Court of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
KENNETH SMITH, Peti-
tioner, vs ARLENE SMITH, RE-
SPONDENT; Case No. DO16-22.
TO:
KENNETH SMITH,
ARLENE SMITH:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a MODIFICATION has
been filed with the Warm Springs Tribal
Court. By this notice you are sum-
moned to appear in this matter at a
hearing scheduled for the 9 TH day of
MAY, 2022 @ 9:00 AM
MONA COCHRAN, Petitioner,
vs JOHNNY E. SMITH, RE-
SPONDENT; Case No. DO19-22.
TO:
MONA
COCHRAN,
JOHNNY E. SMITH, AUSTIN
SMITH
SR.,
LOIS
SQUIEMPHEN, LEANDER
SMITH SR., JASPER SMITH SR.,
AUSTIN SMITH JR., PASHA
SMITH:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CONSERVATOR
GUARDIANSHIP has been filed with
the Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for the 25 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
3:00 PM
COLTON DAVID, Petitioner,
vs JORDIN DAVID, RESPON-
DENT; Case No. DO11-22. TO:
COLTON DAVID, JORDIN
DAVID:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CONSERVATOR
GUARDIANSHIP has been filed with
the Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for the 25 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
9:00 AM
COLTON DAVID, Petitioner,
vs JORDIN DAVID, RESPON-
DENT; Case No. DO18-22. TO:
COLTON DAVID, JORDIN
DAVID:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a DISSOLUTION OF
MARRIAGE has been filed with the
Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for the 25 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
8:00 AM
CTWS, Petitioner, vs MARY
DOMINGO, RESPONDENT;
Case No. DO44-21; DO45-21. TO:
MARTHA ALVAREZ, MARY
DOMINGO, JOSE ALVAREZ
SR.:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CONSERVATOR
GUARDIANSHIP REVIEW has
been filed with the Warm Springs
Tribal Court. By this notice you are
summoned to appear in this matter
at a hearing scheduled for the 21 ST day
of APRIL, 2022 @ 9:00 AM
CTWS,
Petitioner,
vs
ANTIONETTE TALLBULL, RE-
SPONDENT;
Case
No.
DO101;102-20.
TO:
ANTIONETTE TALLBULL,
CIGANY SQUIEMPHEN, CPS,
JV PROSECUTION:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a JURISDICTIONAL
HEARING has been filed with the
Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for the 3 RD day of MAY, 2022 @
9:00 AM
CTWS, Petitioner, vs GLENDA
FISHER, RESPONDENT; Case
No. DO159-06. TO: GLENDA
FISHER, ANGEL DEJESUS
MEDEL, CPS, JV PROSECU-
TION:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a PERMANENCY has
been filed with the Warm Springs
Tribal Court. By this notice you are
summoned to appear in this matter
at a hearing scheduled for the 23 rd day
of MAY, 2022 @ 10:00 AM
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs, Plaintiff, vs Victor Becerra
Jr., Defendant; Case No. CR316-21.
TO: Victor Becerra Jr.:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a SHOW CAUSE HEAR-
ING has been scheduled with the
Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for APRIL 26, 2022 @ 8:00AM
Warm Springs Ventures, Peti-
tioner,
vs
Jasmine
Caldera,Respondent; Case No.
CV3-19. TO: Jasmine Caldera:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a SHOW CAUSE has been
scheduled with the Warm Springs
Tribal Court. By this notice you are
summoned to appear in this matter
at a hearing scheduled for the 26 TH
day of APRIL, 2022 @ 08:00AM
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs, Plaintiff, vs Victor Becerra
Jr., Defendant; Case No. CR30-22.
TO: Victor Becerra Jr.:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CRIMINAL ARRAIGN-
MENT has been scheduled with the
Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for APRIL 26, 2022 @ 8:00AM
Summons: Ernestine Ruiz-
Switzler, PETITIONER, vs Orvie
& Sheila Danzuka, RESPON-
DENT; CASE NO. DO36-13;
DO37-13. TO: Ernestine Ruiz-
Switzler/ Or vie & Sheila
Danzuka/ Jayce Allen:
This is notice that a MODIFICA-
TION HEARING hearing has been
scheduled with the Tribal Court. By
this notice, you are summoned to ap-
pear in this matter at the hearing sched-
Courtesy Confluence
Items from Celilo—Never Silenced.
Confluence attended the
opening reception for a new
exhibit at Beaverton’s Patricia
Reser Center for the Arts. The
exhibit is called Celilo—Never
Silenced.
The exhibit features
Confluence inter views and
short films about Celilo Falls.
You can also see art by
Lillian Pitt of Warm Springs,
over flames to veteran honor
guards. (“The veterans came out
and totally stole the show,” Aurolyn
said.)
Tribal elders were honored. A
grand piano sat onstage. Thomas
Morning Owl, a Umatilla storyteller,
musician, tribal leader and
beadwork artist, who also was an
actor in the musical-theater drama
Ghosts of Celilo, was master of cer-
emonies.
Grants from Metro and the City
of Portland helped underwrite the
gathering, and everything was done
by volunteers.
“We didn’t want anyone to pay
for a meal,” Aurolyn noted. A golf
cart was on hand to help those who
needed it get around the park
grounds. The salmon and moose and
deer meat were donated.
At the end of the day, kids
uled for 29 TH day of APRIL, 2022
@ 10:30AM
CTWS,
Petitioner,
vs
MATHEW VOGT, Respondent;
Case No. CV3-22. TO: MATHEW
VOGT:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CIVIL ARRAIGN-
MENT has been scheduled with the
Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear
in this matter at a hearing scheduled
for the 26 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
08:00AM
Kelly Muniz Wewa, Petitioner,
vs
Amy
Martinez
Wewa,Respondent; Case No.
DO10-22. TO: Kelly Muniza Wewa,
Amy Martinez Wewa:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CONSERVATOR
GUARDIANSHIP HEARING has
been scheduled with the Warm
Springs Tribal Court. By this notice
you are summoned to appear in this
matter at a hearing scheduled for the
29 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @ 3:30PM
Warm Springs Ventures, Peti-
tioner, vs Aurolyn Stwyer, Respon-
dent; Case No. CV4-22. TO:
Aurolyn Stwyer:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a CIVIL COMPLAINT
has been scheduled with the Warm
Springs Tribal Court. By this notice
you are summoned to appear in this
matter at a hearing scheduled for the
27 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
02:00PM
Warm Springs Ventures, Peti-
tioner, vs Juanita Smith-
Lopez,Respondent; Case No.
CV42-19. TO: Juanita Smith-
Lopez:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTI-
FIED that a SHOW CAUSE has been
scheduled with the Warm Springs
Tribal Court. By this notice you are
summoned to appear in this matter
at a hearing scheduled for the 26 TH
and hear poetry by Ed Edmo,
Shoshone-Bannock.
The Confluence video in-
cludes an interview from Na-
tive American Youth and Fam-
ily Center executive director,
Paul Lumley, Yakama.
The exhibit will be on dis-
play through early June 5, open
Wednesday through Saturday,
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
folded up and collected 150 chairs,
and picked up and deposited all
the garbage. And the Confluence
Project, which connects the Indig-
enous cultures and lands through-
out the Columbia River system,
donated 500 commemorative coins.
“That was a big hit,” Aurolyn said.
“Everybody loved those coins.”
The gathering was a memorial,
but it was also, she emphasized,
about the future—a statement that
“We are still here. The echo of
the water was lost sixty-five years
ago, but we won’t give up. We’re
still looking for the return of our
falls.” Maybe, she added, in ten
years, on the seventy-fifth anni-
versary of the inundation, the
people can be celebrating the falls’
return.
Story by Bob Hicks, Oregon
ArtsWatch, courtesy Confluence.
day of APRIL, 2022 @ 08:00AM
Ernestine Ruiz- Switzler, Peti-
tioner, vs Or vie & Sheila
Danzuka,Respondent; Case No.
DO36,37-13. TO: Ernestine Ruiz-
Switzler, Jayce Allen, Orvie & Sheila
Danzuka:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED
that a MODIFICATION HEARING
has been scheduled with the Warm
Springs Tribal Court. By this notice you
are summoned to appear in this mat-
ter at a hearing scheduled for the 29 TH
day of APRIL, 2022 @ 10:30AM
Gayleen Adams, Petitioner, vs
Lei Calica, Respondent ;Case No.
DO67-08. TO: Lei Calica:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED
that a MODIFICATION HEARING
has been scheduled with the Warm
Springs Tribal Court. By this notice you
are summoned to appear in this mat-
ter at a hearing scheduled for the 29 TH
day of APRIL, 2022 @ 3:00PM
Ernestine Ruiz- Switzler, Peti-
tioner, vs CTWS, Respondent ;Case
No. DO150-21. TO: Ernestine Ruiz-
Switzler, Orvie & Sheila Danzuka:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED
that a CONSERVATOR GUARD-
IANSHIP HEARING has been sched-
uled with the Warm Springs Tribal
Court. By this notice you are sum-
moned to appear in this matter at a
hearing scheduled for the 29 TH day of
APRIL, 2022 @ 10:00AM
Whitley Ruiz, Petitioner, vs Vic-
tor Switzler Jr.,Respondent; Case
No. DO118-15. TO: Whitley Ruiz,
Victor Switzler Jr.:
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED
that a Modification & Conservator
Guardianship has been scheduled with
the Warm Springs Tribal Court. By this
notice you are summoned to appear in
this matter at a hearing scheduled for
the 29 TH day of APRIL, 2022 @
2:00PM
Notices continue on 9