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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2011)
Smoke Signals 11 OCTOBER 1,2011 Heritage Center, Tribe celebrate gift of Kalapuya canoe By Ron Karten Smoke Signals staff writer The public gifting of the Willa mette Heritage Center at Mission Mill's Kalapuya shovel-nose river canoe took place on Friday, Sept. 16. The organization wasn't giving the canoe back, Heritage Center President Ross Stout told some 30 people assembled in the Grand Ronde Governance Center Atrium, "because it really belongs to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde ancestors, who built it. It has always belonged to the Tribe." In March, the Heritage Center's Board of Directors voted to repa triate the canoe it had received as a gift in 1980 to the Grand Ronde Tribe. Since then, it appeared in the Grand Ronde Canoe Journey exhibit held at the Heritage Cen ter in April through May of this year. The canoe is arguably the oldest existing Native canoe in Oregon. Undated but probably pre-contact, it was found when the riverbank washed away in a flood on the San tiam River near Tangent, according to the original donor. 'This is a time when many wrongs are being set right," said Grand Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cher yle A. Kennedy. With this gift, she added, "Healing continues for both of us. It is an honorable, righteous deed." "It wasn't just this canoe coming home," said Bobby Mercier, Tribal member and Language and Culture specialist for the Tribe. "This gift gave us carvers a push to carve this style of canoe again." And the Tribal carvers did just that in the run up to the recent exhibit. "Two canoes have come out of it," Mercier added. "I feel pretty emotional about this," said Heritage Center board member Gwen Carr. "I didn't think I would, but in this setting." The setting, in the Atrium lobby of the Governance Building, in- x t ,11 ; r i Photo by Ron Karten Kalapuyan Canoe It is a shovel-nosed Kalapuyan canoe from the Santiam Kalapuya area of Tangent, Ore. This canoe was donated to the Willamette Heritage Center by Elton McGilchrist of Salem, Ore., in 1980. The canoe was included with the donation of a collection of "Indian" baskets. According to the donor, this canoe was "found when the riverbank washed away in a flood on the Santiam River near Tangent. Owners of the property were friends of the donor." On the back of the paper is a note that said "Elton preserved it late 60s." It is an uncommon occurrence for canoes like this to be found in heavy soils on the riverbanks of western Oregon. When muds and clays cover such canoes, they create an oxygen-deprived environment that preserves wood. Western Oregon is well known for its acidic soils and items normally found at cultural sites are stones, chert and obsidian. It is incredibly rare to find very old wooden artifacts remaining in this area. The canoe is likely from the pre-contact period. The canoe has not been carbon dated. Once the canoe entered the Center's collection, some restoration was completed by staff at Oregon Historical Society. It was then put on display in 1981 at Mission Mill Museum now the Willamette Heritage Center. It was taken off display in the mid-1980s and has been in storage ever since. A handwritten note in the file indicates that some sort of assessment of the canoe was done in the 1990s. The remarks on the note say, "The canoe has a face smile and eye in front, believed to be authentic." On the back it says, "evidence of fire shaping and stone rubbing." There is no date and no information about who wrote this note. eluded the glass case given to the Tribe with the canoe, fitted with sand at the bottom to support the vessel. The case was designed by Heritage Center board member Ed Austin, who is a professional mu seum exhibit designer, and funded at a cost of some $10,000 by William and Judy Meiers of Salem, Heritage Center supporters. "It was a challenging item to exhibit," said Tribal member and Cultural Collections Coordinator Khani Schultz, who organized the event. Last year, then-Tribal Council Secretary Kathleen Tom, with Trib al Council blessing, joined the Heri tage Center when it combined with Mission Mill to form a new entity. Tom joined the board to express the Tribe's interest in the canoe at Tribal member and Tribal Language and Culture Specialist Bobby Mercier says thanks to Ross Stout far left, president of the Willamette Heritage Center at Mission Mill, and Peter Booth, center, executive director of Willamette Heritage Center, for gifting an ancient Kalapuya canoe to the Tribe. Stout is holding the Kalapuya-style paddle the Tribe gifted to Heritage Center representatives. a time when the newly combined historical center was ready to part with certain holdings. "Your generosity was overwhelm ing," Tom said. The Tribe "forged a partnership" with the Willamette Heritage Center, Kennedy said previously, "to bring back a culture that many thought was gone." "It meant a lot to us that the canoe would go back to its original owners," said Peter Booth, Heritage Center executive director. "We've been waiting for an oppor tunity for this canoe to be shown to the world," said Stout. Drummers for the event were Tribal members Bobby Mercier, Brian Krehbiel, Travis Mercier and Marcus Gibbons, and Siletz Tribal member Kyle Towner. Schultz thanked Tribal mainte nance men Kyle Rohde (her son) and Soren McCallister, who "did a great job," she said. "Without their helping hands with transport and set up, we could not have done the wonderful display." In a gift exchange, the Tribe presented Heritage Center lead ers with a Tribally-made canoe paddle, and the Heritage Center presented Tribal organizers of the event with original bobbins from Mission Mill. "We're grateful to have been its custodian," said Stout, "and now we can return it." v til Photos by Michelle Alalmo Tribal member and Cultural Resources Department Manager David Lewis tells the audience about the significance of the photos that make up the new historical marker about the Grand Ronde Tribe and the Kalapuyan people that will be on display at the Scio Depot Museum. . n? - A It "fj v, : .1 Tribal member and Cultural Resources Department Manager David Lewis checks out the inside of a cedar bark berry basket that Margy Rebmann, right, wanted to show him and Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy before she donated it to the Scio Depot Museum after the historical marker dedication in Scio on Saturday, Sept. 24. Rebmann got the basket from her grandparents and in Lewis' opinion the basket is more than 1 00 years old.