Celilo Legacy
In the photo section there is a picture of tribal fishers on the bank of the Columbia River titled "Dipnetters."
I have a copy of that photo. Several years ago I set up a display showcasing what the Yakama Nation is doing to restore salmon runs in the basin. This was at the Yakima Fairgrounds. On my display unit at the top I had several Celilo pictures along with the "Dipnetters."
A Yakima elder in a wheel chair with someone pushing it stopped by. She gasped and said, "Ohhhh!" as she had her hand over her heart. She began describing and naming the men.
I immediately took the picture down so she could look at it closely. I wrote the names on the back of the laminated picture.
She could tell who they were by the hats they were wearing. She couldn't name them all but from left to right she said the first man's last name was Johnley but couldn't remember his first name.
She could tell the second man was from Warm Springs because back then they wore those types of hats but didn't know his name.
The third man was John Quiz, then Jack George, Tom Crow, and Jimmy George. The other fisher sitting down she couldn't tell who that was.
I was very honored and humbled to have the elderly woman help me identify the tribal fishers because most times non-tribal photographers neglected to name people in the pictures they took.
I asked the elder her name and she was the late Elsie Pistolhead. Her son was the late Wilferd Yallup who was a former chairman of the Yakama Nation and on the Fish and Wildlife Committee for the tribe. He was a tireless worker for salmon.
Some day I will have all of the names of the tribal people in the Celilo pictures. I have my own collection. I will share some of them in the photo section.
Carol Craig
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Celilo fishers identified
