Yesterday, Tribal Council members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and leaders of Oregon State University signed a new memorandum of understanding, renewing and expanding their partnership. The day was full of presentations, sharing, and personal stories, culminating with the signing of the new MOU.
Council members visited the Archives in the morning and poster-sized versions of some of our photos were on display throughout the library. Tribal Council Chairman Ron Suppah found a connection to one displayed on the 5th floor: he was in the picture! What did he see?
4-H boys at the winter feed lot, located at the Warm Springs Agency
Beyond this personal connection, Suppah reflected on the larger connection between the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and OSU. “Where this journey began was when the federal government built The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River. Celilo Falls was a major fishing area, and when they closed the gates on The Dalles, we lost that fishing site, and the tribes demanded compensation for that.” The Tribes took this money (over $1 million) and commissioned OSU to conduct a study of tribal resources. Suppah says “The Oregon State study set the course for us as a tribal government.” You can find a copy of this 3 volume report in ScholarsArchive@OSU (Final report: Oregon State College/Warm Springs Research Project: Vol. 1. Introduction and survey of human resources, Vol. 2. Education, Vol. 3. The agricultural economy).
- Read more about the event in Ethan Lindsey’s OPB news article “Warm Springs Tribe Remembers OSU Help In Early Years.”
- Read more about the Warm Springs Extension Service.
- Read the March 24th, 2009 OSU Media Release “Fifty years of collaboration: Warm Springs tribes, OSU build on historic partnership.”
- See the OSU Archives Flickr Commons set with images of Celilo Falls from the Gerald Williams Collection.
- Check out the Oregon Multicultural Archives Digital Collection for more images of Warm Springs.
- Read about OPB’s 2005 “Warm Springs Country: A New OREGON STORY” broadcast.
