4 JUNE 15, 2007
Smoke Signals
Gorge ErowoininneirDttallistt Creeps Acflvocattiirog
Tribal Elder Valerie Alexander's family hails from the Gorge, all the way back to Tumulth, and she is working to
keep it green for the coming generations.
By Ron Karten
Speaking of hospitality, there
is a cup at Tribal Elder Valerie
Alexander's place with a drawing of
a raven on it, and the quote: "The
most important of all creatures.
Magical and supernatural, the Ra
ven, known as the Transformer."
In another room is an original
Curtis photo, "At the Wind River."
Celilo Chief Tommy Thompson is
in another photograph. The place
is filled with artifacts and much
of its style is reminiscent of the
Columbia River peoples.
The 65-acre ranch a few miles
north of La Center, Washington,
where such Indian memories come
alive is also rustic and comfortable
on its own terms.
It includes two modern buildings
built with log supports and heated
stone floors and an old mining cabin,
along with trails and views of the
Columbia River, Mount Hood and
the Cascade foothills. It doubles as
a bed and breakfast. There's a sign
where guests might park. It reads:
"Parking for Native Americans only.
All others will be towed."
Alexander shares the place with
partner Kelly Lindgren. He is a
physician she met in Saudi Ara
bia. Now a retired operating room
and public health nurse, they had
a lot in common.
"I like the fast pace of the operat
ing room," she said.
Her travels have taken her across
Europe and the Middle East. She
has hiked in Nepal. Today, she is
more settled, working her ranch
and bed and breakfast, along with
the responsibilities of an environ
mental activist. Maybe "settled"
isn't the right word.
"I wish my life would settle down
a little," she said. "I want to spend
my time outside, not in meetings."
Alexander is a direct descendent
of Tumulth, chief of the Cascades
band. He signed the Treaty of the
Willamette Valley in 1855. Tumulth
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Tribal Elder Valeria Alexander
had four daughters, Virginia, Isabel,
Mary and Sally. Alexander's family
is descended from Mary, known as
"Indian Mary," who had two daugh
ters, Amanda and Abbie, and the
Alexanders come down the Amanda
line. Amanda married Chas. Wil
liams, who together had 1 1 children,
of whom Dora Walker, born in 1905
and still alive, had three girls of
whom Valerie is the youngest.
Tribal member and photographer
Chuck Williams (Smoke Signals,
October 1, 2006) is the son of Dora's
younger brother, Clyde Williams,
who passed on in 1992.
Altogether, some 100 descendents
of Tumulth meet for a picnic each
year on the last Sunday in July at
Beacon Rock. "We tell family sto
ries," said Alexander, "have a group
prayer, take pictures. Generally,
we just catch up."
Indian Mary, Alexander's great
grandmother, had property in the
Columbia Gorge in the late 1800s,
early 1900s. "She managed to get an
act of Congress passed that allowed
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- ' '
Indians to own proper
ty," said Alexander. The
story is told in Chuck
Williams' book, Bridge of
the Gods, Mountains of
Fire: A Return to the Co
lumbia Gorge, a history
illustrated with his strik
ing photography and told
from the perspectives of
both his Indian and pio
neer ancestors.
Alexander's mother,
Dora Walker, spent
much of her early life in
the Gorge, at Skamania.
"They weren't treated
very well," said Alex
ander, referring to her
mother's experiences.
'They called the Indians
'dirty little Indian kids.'
It was very painful."
Alexander and her sib
lings didn't even know
they were Indians early on. When
she was about 13 years old, she said
to her Aunt Faye (Flannery), "It
would be neat to be an Indian, and
a startled Aunt Faye replied, 'Well,
you are.'
"My mother had never said a
word about it."
"After the (1974) Boldt Decision
(affirming Indian fishing rights),
it became more acceptable to be
Indian," she said. "I began study
ing everything I could about Tribal
culture. There was a lot in the Fort
Vancouver Library in Portland.
"I was always, since I could re
member, very attached to the
river," she said. "There were a lot of
things I didn't know, but I knew."
One example, she said, is that she
never sliced salmon into steaks. "It
was always fillets. I've had my own
boat (a 17-foot fishing boat) since
I was 28." She takes it fishing for
salmon, going out to Skamania,
Skamokawa, the mouth of the Lewis
River on the Columbia, but she says, .
"I'm not very good at fishing."
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Tribal Elder Valerie Alexander taping her part as the Tribe works to amend the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Act.
She takes her boat through the
Hood Canal several times a sum
mer and camps on the beach with
all the grandkids.
Alexander has three children and
seven grandchildren.
Her memories of childhood start
with her favorite uncle, Ray Wil
liams, who passed on in 1979, who
was a hunter. "I always enjoyed
hearing his stories," she said. "We'd
go clam digging with him."
Living in the country, she always
had friends that had farms and
horses, and so began her love of
horses. She has a few today, cor
ralled on the ranch property.
Also on the property, she grows
organic vegetables, berries, fruits
and some timber.
But speaking of responsibility,
she has focused for many years on
Indian and environmental issues
using political activism as her tool.
"It's time consuming with meetings,
interviews, fund raising events,"
she said, but important in "con
fronting rampant development."
"People were clearing home sights
on my land," she said, explaining
why she got involved. "I had to do
something."
She was a founding Board mem
ber of Friends of Clark County. As
a member of the Washington Con
servation Voters, she helps with
interviewing political candidates
so the group can put out a score
card telling how officials voted on
important issues.
She also is chair of her local
Neighborhood Association.
"Since the early 1990s, I was just
watching the whole area disinte
grate," she said.
"What are we leaving for our
children?" she said. "I do this so
our children can enjoy what I have
enjoyed."
Earlier this year, the Clark Coun
ty YWCA made her one of their
"Women of Achievement."
And speaking of heritage, she also
pays attention to cultural issues.
She was involved, for example,
with the Ridgefield plankhouse
project. She gives cultural talks at
schools. She has been studying Chi
nook Wawa at the Portland Tribal
office, and has offered her place as a
second venue for the classes.
Most recently, she participated,
along with her sister, Tribal Elder
Marilyn Portwood, and cousin,
Tribal Elder Chuck Williams, in the
making of a Tribal DVD in support
the Grand Rondes' efforts to be in
cluded in the Columbia River Gorge
National Scenic Act. (See related
story on page 3.)
"I've always had pretty strong
feelings about it," she said. It
bothers me that I have to go up to
Bonneville to buy salmon because
just across the river (in Oregon) is
Tumulth Road and Tumulth Creek,
and down on the Washington side at
Skamania is Indian Mary Road.
"It seems strange that I'm buy
ing salmon from another Tribe 150
miles away when my family's his
tory is right here. And it's a very
very special place for us." B