Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2018)
S moke S ignals NOVEMBER 1, 2018 ttracts 250 Several hundred people attended the Grand Ronde History & Culture Summit held in the Tribal gym on Wednesday, Oct. 24. The summit continued through Thursday at the gym and Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center. languages of indigenous peoples and published several books on the subject. He was known for his ex- pertise in Native American customs and languages, and participated in numerous treaty negotiations between the U.S. government and Tribes, including serving on the Willamette Valley Treaty Commis- sion of 1851. Most well-known in the Grand Ronde area was the Rev. Robert W. Summers of McMinnville, who traveled annually to the Reserva- tion between 1873-82 and collect- ed thousands of objects of Tribal culture. Until recently, those re- mained hidden away from public view at the British Museum. After almost 20 years of pursu- ing the collection’s return, Tribal collections staff received the green light for a loan. The “Rise of the Collectors” exhibit at Chachalu features 16 items from the Sum- mers Collection. A return of the entire collection would take an act of the British Parliament to accomplish. “Summers had great interest in Native Amer- ican peoples, but he was also very nosy and would push himself into peoples’ homes,” Beckham said. Summers also took advantage of the Grand Ronde peoples’ poverty by convincing them to sell or trade the artifacts and heirlooms in order to feed their families. The Chachalu exhibi- tion is the first time any of the collection has been displayed publicly. “These artifacts have never been exhibited any- where else,” Beckham said. “The Summers Col- lection is very extensive and we hope in future years more loan objects will be coming.” Other Wednesday morning pre- sentations included speakers on Tribal landscape burning practic- es, culturally important plants, and the enduring legacy of Native Americans in the post-industrial landscape of Willamette Falls. Although industrial development in the 19th and 20th centuries destroyed almost all archeological evidence of the Native American fishery and regional trade center at the falls, an excavation of the historic Oregon City Woolen Mill in 2015 uncovered stone tools and oth- er belongings of the first residents of the falls. Carbon dating showed these artifacts to be 1,300 to 1,400 years old. The excavation was led by Heri- tage Research Associates archeolo- gist Rick Minor. “I had a lot of confidence that there would be archeology on this property and we found it,” Minor said. “People don’t know this histo- ry because it has been blocked out by industrial use.” Wednesday afternoon sessions surveyed Tribal lifeways in early education, media in cultural iden- tify, first foods, an archeology field school overview, as well as weaving, beading and a Chachalu tour. A dinner at achaf-hammi was held Wednesday evening. Henry Zenk, a linguistic con- sultant for the Tribe and author of “Chinuk Wawa as Our Elders Teach Us to Speak It,” spoke about indigenous place names of the Grand Ronde region on Thursday. Zenk said that the Tribes that signed treaties leading up to the founding of the Grand Ronde Res- ervation spoke eight distinct indig- enous languages, which all came with geographic naming. Most of this knowledge was lost after the forced relocation to Grand Ronde, with the exception of the Yamhills and Tualatins, speakers of the 13 Northern Kalapuya language. The language is represented by the earliest extensive linguis- tic record by Albert Gatschet, a government linguist who visited the reservation for two months in 1877. He wrote down hundreds of Northern Kalapuya names, which included 26 names from Grand Ronde and the surrounding area. “We are fortunate to have as much as we do on the Northern Ka- lapuya,” Zenk said. “With naming in an oral culture, you don’t have a map with fixed points that is good for all times.” Among the names that endure today is Chachalu, which means “place of burnt timber.” Zenk said this was likely due to monumental forest fires in the Coast Range. Other Thursday sessions dis- cussed oral literature, digitizing the Summers collection, Marys Peak ethnography and a presentation from Leah Golubchick, internship coordinator with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. She spoke about the summer Grand Ronde Youth Internship and the Willamette Meteorite, known as Tomanowos. The Tribe and museum have had an agreement since 2000, which keeps Tomanowos in the museum as long as it provides annual cere- monial access to Tribal members, as well as acknowledgement of the meteorite’s religious importance. Every year, the museum clos- es early one day to allow for the Tribal ceremony. Additionally, the museum established an internship program that allows young Tribal members to work at the museum for three weeks every summer, learning about Tomanowos and living in New York City. “The internship with Grand Ronde is one of the most important things we do because it is extremely unique,” Golubchick said. “It does everything we try to teach in a three-week block. … The interns do an amazing job.” Some of the final presenta- tions were delivered by Tribal Deputy Press Secretary Sara Thompson, who discussed the use of multimedia and the In- ternet to get the Tribe’s stories out to a diverse audience, and Tribal Geographic Information System Coordinator Alex Drake. The summit wrapped up after 4 p.m. Thursday with closing remarks from Cultural Resources Department Manag- er David Harrelson. University of Oregon Professor Rick Minor talks about Willamette Falls before Native contact with settlers and exlorers during the Grand Ronde History & Culture Summit held in the Tribal gym on Wednesday, Oct. 24.
