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.
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: .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.