Celilo: an intensely personal diary on betrayal, loss, identity, and silencing the voice of the Gods

I probably have no right to feel as intensely wounded this week as I do.  After all, my loss in the matter of this diary is so far less than the true victims of the story that the groanings of my heart must seem to many akin to a Southern aristocrat bewailing his plight as an heir of American slavery.  Nonetheless, I grieve, and have many times this weekend been brought to tears...

http://www.opb.org/...
Photo of Celilo Falls before 1957, contributed by Kossack, Melvin. (Source: U.S. Corps of Engineers)

I'm a middle-aged white guy who grew up in a town along the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon.  A few miles up river thundered one of the wonders of the world, a mighty rapids and falls which spanned the width of the river, Celilo, at the time second largest cascade on the continent.  This weekend we commemorate the 50 year anniversary of its disappearance, submerged under the reservoir created by a massive hydroelectric dam.

This weekend, the date has been marked by gatherings of native peoples, whose home, livelihood, and a major portion of their culture (and most certainly their way of life) was also submerged on the same day.  There are special exhibits at local museums.  Our local NPR affiliate has been running a documentary segment series during its news broadcasts all week.  The newspaper printed a special "commemorative edition."

Photo of Celilo as it appears today, also contributed by Kossack, Melvin."

I was a first grader the day the spillways closed, and the sounds of the great falls ceased to ring out and echo from the rock bluffs and promentories of the gorge.  The Celilo Wy'am tribe had resisted, asserting their treaty rights, in vain.  My parents, like the most of the townfolk, could speak only of "not standing in the way of progress."  There were few dissenting voices in the white community, and those few were marginalized in so many ways that I have only recently understood their courage.  In a later diary, this will be related to my reluctance to use the preferred term, "Progressive," as self-identification amongst those with whom I feel closest politically.  I'm not up to it right now.

At this moment, I too strongly miss being able to stand in awe of the presence of the majestic falling water, its sound indescribable in its power.  Even as so small a child, it could carry me to depths of contemplation I have rarely experienced since.  When my mind turns to Celilo, it is an understatement to describe my feelings as grief.  

Yet, the children who grew up in its presence lost so very much more.  I am aware of the selfishness I betray in claiming even a small portion of their great loss.  I am overwhelmed to hear their descriptions of life in Celilo Village the night the falls fell victim to progress.  They recall the oppressive silence which replaced the thunder of the falling water being pierced by the mournful cries of their elders.  It was not just a natural wonder which had been extinguished, but they knew too well it was also a proud and happy way of life.  The few who remain and still call Celilo Village their home live now in the sound of freeway traffic and the occasional freight train, the sounds of the God of Progress.I am embarassed by my tears for the loss of an element of my town's river view, and a place I enjoyed for recreation, but they are genuine, my tears, and I cannot deny them.

I wish I could post an action item with this diary.  Would that there was a piece of legislation or a campaign which could repay the Celilo Wy'am people for the sacrifice we extracted from them, and restore the mighty voice of the Gods with which we, like them, were blessed in this land on the banks of the Columbia.  But all I can do is resolve, and beg all within my meager voice likewise, Never Again.

John-Mark

Links:

http://thedalleschronicle.com/ - Kathy Gray's article, "Silenced Thunder," which ran on page one of the Celilo "commemorative edition" of The Dalles Chronicle. (Note: this link was substituted for the Chronicle's home page, on which the linked article was featured at the time this diary was first published.

http://www.opb.org/... - Oregon Public Radio's feature on Celilo with sound and video files.

An update already:  I forgot to mention the ceremonies and fanfare of the dedication of The Dalles Dam fifty years ago, replete with marching band and motorcade for then Vice President Richard Nixon, who cut the ribbon, and gave the dedicatory address.

•  The Jar

  Pro forma, I think.

  by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 07:26:04 PM PDT

•  Thanks.

  Another article on this I highly recommend:

  Still waters, stolen lives

  
  A corner of Celilo Falls then:

  

  
  The site today - note the same railroad bridge in both pics.

  

  
  It is sometimes said that regardless of the need for dam repairs or any other reason, the Corps would never under any circumstances allow Celilo to be exposed again - because an enraged public would not allow it to be resubmerged.

  by melvin on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 07:51:16 PM PDT

  •  I really appreciate your posting the pics...

    I should have included them in the original diary, and so that they will get wider view, have taken the liberty of copying them to the main text.  Hope you don't mind, and thanks a million.

    by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:55:14 PM PDT

    •  Not at all.

      Probably should credit the first one:  US Army Corps of Engineers photo in the public domain.

      by melvin on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:59:30 PM PDT

      •  Needless to say...

        I'm feeling less than generous toward the Corps today, but fair is fair.

        by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:24:04 PM PDT

•  Thaks

  Greetings from Prosser!

  I recommend this recent article as well:

  Still waters, stolen lives

  It may have been the richest freshwater fishery in North America. In October 1805, explorers Lewis and Clark estimated seeing 5 tons of dried salmon stacked in a single village at present-day The Dalles.

  A corner of Celilo Falls just before it disappeared:

  

  The site today. Note the same railroad bridge in bith pics.

  

  It is sometimes said that no matter what the need, for dam repairs or anything else, the Corps will never allow Celilo Falls to be exposed for fear that an enraged public having seen it would never allow it to be resubmerged.

  by melvin on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 07:58:13 PM PDT

•  Thanks for this. n/t

  by magnetics on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 07:59:09 PM PDT

•  The bit of ourselves we lost concerns us all. n/t

  by scoff0165 on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:09:10 PM PDT

  •  There's a whole 'nother diary...

    in what we did to ourselves, our town, and I believe our souls, in this betrayal of our land and the people who had called it home for so many generations before we appropriated it as ours.  Concerning us all, indeed.

    by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:03:43 PM PDT

•  Thanks

  I'm an Oregonian born a decade too late to have ever seen and heard Celilo.  I can only imagine how awesome that thunder must have been, a wild river flowing through a desert.  So many people there today have no sense at all of what was lost, either in terms of the natural beauty or the cost to the native peoples.  Thanks for the reminder.

  by dburbach on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:46:04 PM PDT

  •  Quote from the old Joni Mitchell song too trite?

    "You don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone?"

    Even the beauty of your prose (and thank you for it) fails to capture it.  Would that I had understood sooner, and treasured more.

    by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:58:08 PM PDT

•  not enough

  Sometimes,
  I am comforted by the fact the the dam on the Elwha is coming down
  (Starting in early 2008, the 108-foot-tall Elwha Dam and the 210-foot-tall Glines Canyon Dam will be dismantled in stages, reopening 70 miles of prime salmon and steelhead spawning habitat.
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...
  state Department of Ecology on Wednesday issued a water-quality permit that is critical to plans for tearing down the dams
  Seattle Times Thursday, March 08, 2007

  and that there are half page ads opposing the destruction of watershed for a mine (Pebble Mine project with a huge earthen dam) here in Alaska.
  http://www.renewableresourcescoaliti...

  But often, I am appalled to realize that Celilo Falls were smothered during my lifetime and
  that Three Gorges was built.

  Thanks for posting.  Heartfelt words are always in order.

  by RosyFinch on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:49:06 PM PDT

  •  I applaud these efforts...

    and greatly appreciate your sharing information about them.  There are a few of us making rumblings about attempting to restore Celilo.  The opposing forces are enormous, and it feels like spittin' into the wind.  Or maybe the melancholy of this weekend precludes my feeling optimistic about much of anything right now.

    by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:00:03 PM PDT

    •  A very tough problem

      I'm glad to see small, remote dams like those on the Elwha going.  And I'd die to see the Columbia roaring through Celilo, the old Narrows at The Dalles, or the Cascades.

      But the Columbia dams are in a whole different league.  Replacing the power from The Dalles Dam would require two large coal-fired power plants plus a large natural gas plant for peak power.  John Day Dam, three large coal plants, etc.

      Then there's the flood control.  Remove the dams and you pretty much have to abandon the flood plain.  In the Portland area, think everything north of Columbia Blvd -- PDX, all the Airport Way businesses, Jantzen Beach and downtown Vancouver, not to mention the port facilities.

      The barge traffic argument at least is easier to beat.  Barges carry less than 5% of total cargo into Portland.  You'd probalby need some rail upgrades and you'd see more truck traffic on I-84 through the Gorge, but it'd be managable.

      Realistically, though, I don't think you can remove the mainstem dams without massive expensive, major lifestyle changes, and huge environmental tradeoffs (remove all the Columbia dams and you need something three to four dozen coal fired power plants or more than twenty nuclear plants).  

      by dburbach on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 08:06:39 AM PDT

      •  We're not even there yet.

        We haven't reached the point where the possibilities and problems can be discussed, except among those who are already the most fervent.  The whole notion is dismissed as nothing more than ravings of the lunatic fringe.  But, then, so were the objections of building the dams in the first place.

        The obstacles, both in terms of engineering and politics, are enormous.  Replacement of the loss of electricity, most of which is now exported out of the region, is but one of them, and as courts order increasingly stringent measures to protect the salmons, may become one of the lesser issues.

        I have a wonderful picture of my grandfather in a boat on what is now Second Street, The Dalles, during the "great flood," of which there has been no repeat in my lifetime thanks to the Dam.  Nor do I think that most who would like to see the Falls restored would be happy about seeing a levy system along the river bank.

        But until the issues can be discussed there is no hope for a solution.

        by jgilhousen on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 10:01:04 AM PDT

•  Thank you, jgilhousen. As someone new to

  the beauty of the Columbia River in the last five years, due to
  my daughters moving to its "neighborhood," I never knew what
  I was missing with the absence of Celilo.

  Now both I and my daughters (whom I'll tell this story to) will
  always keep in mind the silence of falls, and how it happened.

  by begone on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 08:51:57 PM PDT

  •  Welcome, neighbor.

    Your daughters are richly blessed, and will treasure your having shared the memory of this land with them, I'm sure.

    by jgilhousen on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:01:20 PM PDT

•  thanks much.

  I have passed by Celilo hundreds of times. I was born almost exactly a year after the falls were submerged and as a young kid, my mom would talk about the falls and the old road along the Columbia, and stopping to buy salmon outside of the lodge there.

  There are thousands upon thousands of ghost voices along that river. In the now relative silence of the gorge, it's possible to listen to them.

  Thank you for adding your voice.

  by exmearden on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:28:36 PM PDT

•  my dad grew up in Hood River

  but I was too young to remember the falls...but my entire life I heard his stories about watching the men fishing off those platforms...i do remember, however, visiting "old" Arlington before the John Day Dam was put into operation. Very strange driving through the town of abandoned buildings...wondering if the fishies would be swimming through the rooms...

  by fireflynw on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 09:32:02 PM PDT

  •  Shearers Falls

    If you want to see a bit of what it was like (I guess -- I'm too young to remember any of the pre-dam Columbia), you could visit Shearers Falls on the Deschutes, in between Maupin and where the White River joins.   It's still a Warm Springs tribal site for platform fishing.  

    For a bit of perspective, the flow of the Deschutes at Maupin is typically around 2% of what the Columbia flow at Celilo would have been.

    by dburbach on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 07:37:56 AM PDT

•  I share your loss and your tears.

  by Agathena on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 11:01:15 PM PDT

•  I was six

  when my parents took us up to see the falls for one last time a couple of weeks before they disappeared. We drove by them many times on our way to see my grandparents. After they were gone, the drive always seemed less interesting.  My memories are a little fuzzy, but I remember thinking how scary it must be out on those platforms. I can't pass by, even today, without thinking about what has been lost. Thanks for the memories.

  by Ckntfld on Sun Mar 11, 2007 at 11:46:58 PM PDT

  •  I, too, was six. (n/t)

    by jgilhousen on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 12:05:12 AM PDT

  •  I can't even imagine that

    Thanks for sharing that -- it's truly a vivid imagine.  At six, perhaps not so bad, but I try to imagine what it would be like to drive out to see Multnomah Falls or Mt. Hood for the last time, knowing that in a few weeks it would be gone.  Not just that I'd never see it again, but simply gone.  I can't imagine how I'd feel driving away, knowing that was it.  gone

    Sitting here in my office, 3000 miles away from Oregon, I'm trying not to tear up.  God I miss living there.

    by dburbach on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 07:31:49 AM PDT

    •  My career kept me far away...

      from the region most of my adult life.  Despite the many changes in the Pacific Northwest during the interval, I experienced an immense sense of joy when I first caught sight of the mighty Columbia from the drivers' seat of a U-haul van carrying me, my two cats, and my belongings back home.  Perhaps that experience is yet in your future, too.

      by jgilhousen on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 10:06:38 AM PDT

      •  I know exactly what you mean

        I still go back frequently -- my family is still mostly there (and has been since the 1850s!).  I always make sure I have a left-hand window seat, and and am glued to it as we start to descend, craning forward like an excited kid hoping to glimpse Santa Claus, waiting for that moment when Mt. Hood suddenly appears.  

        Atlantic writer Robert Kaplan actually talked about that in his book Empire Wilderness.  He noted that after a long flight to the Pacific NW from the East, watching civilization slowly yield to hours of empty brown plains and deserts, to then suddenly drop past the giant snow-clad volcanoes -- so utterly different from the Rockies further east -- see the landscape flash from brown to green and fill up with farms, towns, and cities gives you a sense of arriving somewhere unlike any other in the U.S.

        Anyway, I can relate to your U-haul story.  I was being considered for a job in Oregon last fall, when I was living in the Midwest.  I'd already made a little mental plan for the trip, right down stopping for a Pepper Bacon Tillamook Cheeseburger at that first Burgerville in The Dalles before doing the last leg down the Gorge.  I ended up with a great job near Boston instead.  I went to grad school here and really like it, but it's not home.

        by dburbach on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 10:37:14 AM PDT

•  Thank you for this

  I grew up there and return at least once a year. It restores my soul.

  by pdt on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 08:44:20 PM PDT

•  This reminds me of the shock

  when we went out of our way to see the American Falls on the Snake River and they were totally dry.

  by ybruti on Mon Mar 12, 2007 at 08:53:37 PM PDT

•  Celilo Falls

  Driving to Celilo Falls to watch the brave men standing on boards to spear the salmon was a regular trip for my family, as I was growing up. It was a spectacular sight for a family from Portland. Your post was bittersweet. Thank you.

  by mcmom on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 07:52:52 AM PDT

•  the very best picture of Celilo

  The very best, heart-stopping picture of Celilo is a photograph taken by artist Ray Atkeson, a closer-up shot of a single fisherman, hat on head, gracefully wielding his net as he brings up a salmon - and his cohorts, sitting in a circle behind him, also hatted.  I couldn't find a link to it on the Web, but it is sold in fine photography shops in Portland.

  by mmiddle on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 08:23:58 AM PDT