SEPTEMBER 1, 2001
SEPTEMBER 1, 2001
Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals
Tribal Members on-Mew York
Interns, chaperones find the Big Apple an "eye-opening" experience.
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By Chris Mercier
"uslims make
the arduous
Haj to Mecca. Elvis
disciples move
many miles to
Graceland. And
hopefully more
Tribal members will
follow in the foot
steps of Cristina
Lara and Teresa
Henry. The two
Willamina High
School Seniors
made their own pil
grimage of sorts in
July to New York as
interns for the American Museum of
Natural History.
"Pilgrimage" might be an awkward
term for the three-week internship,
but given that an ancient Tribal relic
rests at'the heart of the story, one
that required countless other jour
neys on its behalf, a more fitting
word might not exist.
The internship evolved following
the Tribe's legal negotiation with the
museum for ownership of the Wil
lamette Meteorite or Tomanowos.''
In November of 1999, the Tribe
filed its claim to Tomanowos under
the Native American Graves Protec
tion and Repatriation Act of 1990.
This timely venture came only
months before the Museum planned
on opening its new $210 million Rase
Center for Earth and Space, in which
the 15 ton meteorite is housed. The
two sides reached an agreement in
June of 2000 one that allowed
Tribal members special access to the
meteorite, which before being
shipped to the Museum nearly one
century ago had long been an object
of reverence for the Clackamas
Tribe. The Clackamas people were
one of the many Tribes forced onto
the Grand Ronde Reservation.
A dialog was struck during the
eventful signing of the agreement last
year and the Inside View Internship
Program, which for years had ex
tended its opportunities to many
New York based students, created
two slots for Native Americans, the
same two that went to Lara and
Henry.
The major hope of the internship
is to enrich the participants. They
could understand and better appre
ciate their own cultures and tradi
tions, increase the awareness of Na
tive American ideas and matters to
more museums and the general pub
lic, and through research be intro
duced to the sciences of archaeology
and anthropology.
Lara certainly received her fair
share of that she was assigned to
work in the Museum's Discovery
Room, a section for kids that featured
fossils, bones and a model excavation
site. The fit was nearly perfect as
the experience renewed her interest
in history, a subject she gives much
consideration to studying in college.
"It has given me some direction,
that's for sure," Lara said.
The experience for Henry was simi
larly fitting. She toiled away in the
Communications Department, re
searching for press releases and
working in the IMAX Theater. Yet
ironically, Henry developed a
slightly contrasting opinion from Lara
over the internship.
"I learned I don't want to work in
an office," Henry recalled.
Then what precisely would she like
to work in?
"Law, no.
"Psychology, no.
"Would I like to study to be a doc
tor? Yes.",
Not that Henry is.in any way
knocking the internship, but rather,
she pointed out, it was the experi
ence as a whole that affected her, not
her particular assignment. The two
girls shared similar opinions on that.
Notably, both of them became good
friends with other interns, as the
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Cristina Lara
Teresa Henry
Big City GirlS Getting to see the sites of New York City was an education for
Cristina Lara and Teresa Henry both Seniors at Willamina High School in little Wil
lamina, Oregon. A typical street scene in New York, not to mention the height of the
surrounding landscape, is a bit different than what they were used to. After living and
working in the big city, both Tribal members said they learned from the experience.
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Photos by Brent Merrill
Museum had provided internships
for students of all backgrounds.
"There were 16 of us total," Lara
recalled. "We had African-American
interns, Korean interns..."
Yet they were the only Native
Americans, as well as the sole non-New
Yorkers, a situation that evidently con
ferred minor celebrity status.
"People were very interested in
Native ways," Lara reflected. "They
were so open to everything.
"They don't care about the color of
your skin," she continued. "It's
what's inside that they like."
Like a Movie Script, Tomanowos has a Great Story
Young Tribal members look into the future, wonder how the story will end.
By Chris Mercier
The story of the Tomanowos' me
teorite plays out like a movie script,
lending an aura to an object not
lacking mystique.
The meteorite fell to Earth thou
sands of years ago, in fact predat
ing human settlement. Originally
lodged near Idaho's Pend d'Oreille
region, a combination of glacial
shifts and the Great Missoula Flood
thousands of years ago deposited
it on the previous spot near Wil
lamette Falls, according to the
American Local History Network
(www.usgennet.orgalhnorus).
. The Clackamas people
seemed somehow aware of its
celestial origins, hence its
moniker which translates to
various meanings such as
"Heavenly Visitor" or "Visitor
from the Moon."
The meteorite was deemed
supernatural and rainwater
collected in its cavities supposedly
had medicinal value, as did arrows
anointed in it before battle or hunts.
Indians seeking strength and cour
age and children during puberty
also made pilgrimages to the site
for spiritual power.
The Treaty of 1855 that effectively
created the Confederated Tribes of
the Grand Ronde Community of Or
egon, to which the Clackamas be
longed, also ceded the land on
which Tomanowos was located and
for nearly half a century it lay for
gotten. But in 1902, a Welsh
coalminer Ellis Hughes dis-
It
"Tomanowos" At the center of the American Museum of Natural History's
Rose Center for Earth and Space is Tomanowos. The 15-ton meteorite educates the
8 million visitors a year to the connection between this unique gift from outer space
and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. Recently,
two young Tribal members had a chance to experience the meteorite's current sur
roundings and bring the stories home.
cum) (3iis gafr
covered the meteorite nearly a mile
away from his property. He and a
neighbor hatched a plan to buy the
land where it lay, which technically
belonged to the Oregon Iron and Steel
Company. That scheme fell through
and Hughes opted to steal it.
The theft consumed three whole
months as Hughes and his son,
equipped with an old horse, gradually
dragged the 15-ton meteorite home.
After building a shack around it,
Hughes began charging 25 cents for
people to see it. Unfortunately
Hughes inept heist left a rather obvi
ous trail and in 1904 the Oregon Iron
and Steel Company sued him over
ownership. The case was an event
ful one and went the company's way.
Hughes appealed the case while a
team of horses was sent to his prop
erty to haul the meteorite off. An in
junction stopped the repossession and
the company hired a 24-hour guard
to sit atop Tomanowos with a
shotgun.
In 1905, the Oregon Su
preme Court ruled the com
pany the rightful owner and
thus the first legal hassle over
Tomanowos ended. A year
later, however, a certain New
Yorker Mrs. William Dodge
bought the meteorite for $20,600
and promptly donated it to the
American Museum of Natural His
tory, where it has been ever since.
Fitting, given the history of
Tomanowos, that Tribal members
must now make their own journey
just to see it. Fitting that an ancient
Tribal relic now rests in the epitome
of modernity. No wonder nobody
returns from the trip the same.
"I appreciate now where I live,
what I have," Henry said. "I grew
up a lot."
Lara would offer similar sentiments.
"It opened my eyes to the world,"
she said. T found it good prepara
tion for college... for real life."
Sohappy hopes more Tribal mem
bers get the opportunity to partici
pate in the internship. In concur
rence with the two interns he said
it "teaches them that there's a
world outside of Grand Ronde."
And so finally, what about
Tomanowos? How was it to travel
across the continent and see the
unearthly hunk of ore enigma
in so many lives?
"I touched it," Lara said. "It was
a trip. I mean this thing is from
outer space."
But nobody said there was a uni
versal effect.
"There were kids crawling over
it," Henry said, somewhat disap
pointed. "I didn't understand... it
felt awkward.
"It was out of place," she added.
"It should be here."
Some artifacts, Henry said, don't
belong in a museum. And if her
sentiments are shared with any
more Tribal members, then one
wonders how many pilgrimages
are left, and if the eternal
Tomanowos saga will ever be fin
ished at all.
Henry agreed.
"There are so many kinds of people
there (in New York)."
Few places on Earth can compare
with New York City in terms of di
versity and it would surprise nobody
that visiting the Big Apple was the
highlight for both young ladies, and
for their chaperones, Richard
Sohappy and Dustin Harmon, who
also attended, though for only half
the three-week duration.
"When you walk down the street,
you hear so many different lan
guages," said Sohappy. "You don't
hear much English."
To say that the four of them didn't
enjoy themselves would be blatantly
false. But they, like most people,
were overwhelmed by what New
York had to offer: The world. Vol
umes have been written on the "City
that Never Sleeps," from fiction to
biography to dwellings of Spiderman
and Daredevil. Woody Allen has
crafted an entire film career from life
in NYC. Time magazine called it the
"City of the Century."
Just what did these youngsters
from small town Oregon expect?
"To be honest," confessed Henry.
"I couldn't sleep the night before we
left. I'd never been away from home
for that long before and never to New
York. It was overwhelming. You
arrive practically running.
"I couldn't sleep for the first week,"
said Henry, whose hotel was located
in downtown Manhattan.
Lara herself wasn't quite as intimi
dated, though she did call arriving
in New York "eye-opening."
"The buildings were so big," she
said. "And you can't walk slow."
Sohappy was afforded the ultimate
luxury: arriving at night.
"Beautiful." He called it, to the
point.
The four of them had the opportu
nity to absorb New York's renowned
local color The Statue of Liberty,
Chinatown, Little Italy and to
make some discoveries. They were
particularly impressed by the Lower
East Side Tenement Museum, an ex
hibition center that has preserved old
immigrant apartments and living con
ditions from the late 1800's and early
1900's, the golden age of immigration.
Sohappy dared the Bronx twice,
once for the famous Bronx Zoo and
another for the unique experience of
taking in a Yankee's game at Yankee
Stadium. The latter he defined as a
festival of profanity, directed equally
at visiting players and struggling
Yankees and that was before they
actually lost, to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Bronx reminded Sohappy that
not only is the city diverse, but the
inhabitants make every effort to
maintain the variety. Every neigh
borhood, he said, was marked. The
Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cu
bans proudly hung their flags every
where, so that no visitor could be ig
norant of whose neighborhood he
was in "People are proud there,"
said Sohappy.
And oh yeah, there was still the
matter of a museum, and a big rock,
which were the reasons for their visit
in the first place.
Lara and Henry typically worked
in their respective positions from
Monday through Thursday from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Fridays from
12:30 to 6. As ambassadors for the
Tribe, they were also required to do
an oral presentation on Tomanowos,
one that would incorporate the his
tory and meaning of the meteorite.
Job Opportunity for High School Student
The Tribal Education department school; able to work well with chil
is seeking applications for a high
school intern at the Tribal Preschool
Head Start beginning in September
running through mid-August 2002.
Interviews will be held the first week
in September.
Qualifications: Must be an enrolled
Grand Ronde Tribal member; cur
rently enrolled and attending high
dren and staff; dependable and will
ing to participate in additional train
ing and pass a criminal background
check.
For more information please call
Vikki Bishop at 503-879-2287. To
request an application call the Hu
man Resources department at 503-879-2109.
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CirCUS Day at Preschool Preschool Supervisor Danis Bazzy
Bucknell paints the face of Kallie Kellogg during "Circus Day 2001." The
children played games, ate snow cones and just "played."
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This Could Be the Start
of Something Great....
The lilu (wolf) classroom at T'wax San-chaku Head Start and Preschool
have begun to develop quite a name for themselves as singers and dancers.
The class was recently invited to sing in Chinuk at the grand opening of
the Earth's Fury exhibit at the A.C. Gilbert Children's museum in Salem.
Since this was an evening event, only five of the children's families were
able to attend, but we wanted to recognize those families who went out of
their way to make sure their children shared in the experience those
who attended (pictured above from left) were Leann Rogers, Halee
Eltrich, Mykal Stewart, Codie Haller and Abby Bobb (not pictured).
The "lilu singers" also had the honor of singing and drumming in Dallas
on August 3 to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.