kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010
Posts: 785
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 Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: Salmon canneries |
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Sparked by the 1848 Whitman Massacre, a number of violent battles were fought between American settlers and the region's natives.[51] The subsequent Indian Wars, notably the Yakima War, decimated the native population and removed much land from native control.[52] As years progressed, the right of natives to fish along the Columbia became the central issue of contention with the states, commercial fishers, and private property owners. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld fishing rights in landmark cases in 1905 and 1918.[53]
Four men dressed in long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and hats are perched on platforms on both sides of a rushing stream. Three of the men are standing, and one is seated. Each man holds one end of a long pole with a net, dipped in the water, attached to the other end. Several people without poles are watching or waiting nearby.
Dipnet fishing at Celilo Falls, 1941
Fish were central to the culture of the region's natives, both as sustenance and as part of their religious beliefs.[54] Natives drew fish from the Columbia at several major sites, which also served as trading posts. Celilo Falls, located east of the modern city of The Dalles, was a vital hub for trade and the interaction of different cultural groups,[50] being used for fishing and trading for 11,000 years. Prior to contact with westerners, villages along this 9-mile (14 km) stretch may have at times had a population as great as 10,000.[55] The site drew traders from as far away as the Great Plains.[56] The Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River Gorge, and Kettle Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Washington, were also major fishing and trading sites.[57][58]
In prehistoric times the Columbia's salmon and steelhead runs numbered an estimated annual average of 10 to 16 million fish. In comparison, the largest run since 1938 was in 1986, with 3.2 million fish entering the Columbia.[59] The annual catch by natives has been estimated at 42 million pounds (19,000 t).[60] The most important and productive native fishing site was located at Celilo Falls, which was perhaps the most productive inland fishing site in North America.[61] The falls were located at the border between Chinookan- and Sahaptian-speaking peoples and served as the center of an extensive trading network across the Pacific Plateau.[62] Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent.[63]
Salmon canneries established by white settlers beginning in 1867 had a strong negative impact on the salmon population, and in 1908 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt observed that the salmon runs were but a fraction of what they had been 25 years prior.[64] Still, in the 1930s, there were natives who lived along the river and fished year round, moving along with the fish's migration patterns throughout the seasons.[65]
As river development continued in the 20th century, each of these major fishing sites was flooded by a dam, beginning with Cascades Rapids in 1938. The development was accompanied by extensive negotiations between natives and U.S. government agencies. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a coalition of various tribes, adopted a constitution and incorporated after the 1938 completion of the Bonneville Dam flooded Cascades Rapids;[64] the Yakama werOmega 3
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