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Reviews
THE SI'LAILO WAY: INDIANS, SALMON AND THE LAW ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER
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by Joseph Dupris, Kathleen S. Hill, and William H. Rodgers, Jr.
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| Carolina Academic Press, Durham, North Carolina, 2006. Illustrations, photographs, maps, tables, notes, index. 354 pages. $25.00 paper. |
| This book is a collection of twenty-two vignettes that tell the story of individuals who, during the past 150 years, have fought for salmon. While focused on the Columbia River fishery at Celilo Falls (Si'lailo), it necessarily brings in issues involving the entire Columbia River system. As the back cover of the book states, those stories relate the efforts of individuals whose "sympathetic view of the fisheries has been incorporated into law. This mission to protect the fish has not been won. It has not been lost. And it will never be abandoned." |
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Each of the chapters centers on an individual or a few individuals whose lives have been engaged in working for the salmon. Although that work involved efforts based in cultural, spiritual, and economic interests, it also inevitably included the legal system, either through federal agencies or the courts. Actors are identified by their particular worldview — such as the "prophet," the "progressive," the "visionary," or the "chief" — and each story relates a well-researched event that has proved instrumental in the development of controversies surrounding Indians, salmon, and the Columbia River. |
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Take, for example, the "storyteller." William Chinook was present at the Wasco Treaty Council in 1855. He was fluent in English and often served as interpreter for his people, the Wasco. In 1865, Superintendent for Indian Affairs of Oregon J.W. Perit Huntington negotiated another treaty with the people of Warm Springs, a treaty the Columbia River Tribes refer to as the "Huntington Fraud." That treaty was to restrict the Warm Springs to the reservation and relinquish their off-reservation rights to fish, hunt, and gather. Chinook was present at those negotiations, too. In 1886, Chinook, by then an elder, related what he understood at the time of the negotiation of the Huntington Treaty. Chinook recalled that the talk was of the danger of leaving the reservation and being mistaken for Paiutes who were currently at war. There was no mention of fishing. Had the Wasco known the treaty restricted their fishery on the Columbia River, they would never have considered it. Chinook recognized the importance of oral traditions but also realized they carried more weight if written down. He had his speech recorded. The Huntington Treaty continues to haunt the Warm Springs people but, as the authors point out, Chinook knew that these things took time. "He said his honest recollections, written down, eventually could overthrow the Huntington Treaty. People remember the acts and works of their heroes, and tribal storytellers keep the issues alive and vibrant in the minds of old and young alike. In this way, today's disappointments can become the triumphs of the next generation" (p. 52). |
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Another of my favorite chapters deals with "The Skeptic: Tom Yallup, Indian Scientist." Yallup had a knack for analytical acuteness that called into question the wisdom of scientific knowledge concerning salmon and salmon population enhancement long before the scientific community began to question the status quo. Traditional knowledge concerning salmon runs has the advantage of generations of observation and intimate experience. Yallup instinctively knew that dams were bad, fish ladders and other conveyances would never work, and western European science did not have the solutions needed to save the Columbia River salmon. Yallup knew, for example, that fish counting at Bonneville Dam was inaccurate. As early as 1950, he questioned the ethics and reliability of fish counting. He pointed out that fish counters often could not tell the difference between a steelhead and a coho, that fish fell back and were counted twice, that fish counters counted shadows, and that no accurate counts could be made, especially since counts were not done at night. Fifty years later, the scientific community discovered these same flaws via the scientific method. Only now are we beginning to recognize the important contributions traditional ecological knowledge can make to the western scientific tradition. |
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Space does not allow me to discuss other chapters in this book. Each has its merits and each is an interesting story in itself. As in any book, a few shortcomings exist. Although discussed in a chapter called "the traders," David Sohappy certainly deserves a chapter of his own. He is legendary in the history of the Columbia River salmon controversy, especially in the legal arena. Each chapter has a statement on Indian law stated as a "Rule of Law," which to unfamiliar readers might be taken as an actual canon of Indian law instead of the sarcastic statement on legal interpretation that it actually is. There are a few minor errors of fact and the occasional flippant comments are sometimes annoying. Despite these shortcomings, the work is highly recommended for those interested in Indian law, fishing rights, and the Columbia River and is a welcome addition to the numerous works on these subjects. |
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| Daniel L. Boxberger
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| Western Washington University, Bellingham |
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