Program 306

Indians netting fish at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River (Oregon State Archives OHD G211).

Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indians

with Arlie Neskahi

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Arlie Neskahi:
Welcome to Wisdom of the Elders. I’m Arlie Neskahi.

It was the sound of it that gave the Great Falls its name. Tm’m.

The sound of water hitting rock. Tm’m. The great Columbia River, draining all of the Northwest, gushed over the basalt barriers, pounding the rock like a giant gong, calling the people from miles around. Tm’m. Read more »

Adeline Miller. Courtesy First Peoples Fund.

Adeline Miller

with Brian Bull

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Arlie Neskahi:
Many years ago, an elder would always remind Adeline Miller that she was “born up in the mountains, during huckleberry time”. Now a tribal elder herself, Miller reminds her children and grandchildren of their origins – through song, dance, and ceremony. It’s what keeps Miller spry, as Brian Bull explains on today’s Elder Wisdom. Read more »

Don Addison. Photo by Larry Johnson.

Numu, Eecheeshkeen, and Kiksht

with Don Addison

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Arlie Neskahi:
Welcome back to Wisdom of the Elders.

Don Addison:
Halito! I’m Don Addision and this is Speaking Native.

Three Native languages survive on the Warm Springs Reservation today: Northern Paiute (also called Numu), Sahaptin, or Eecheeshkeen, and Wasco, known as Kiksht. Read more »

Judy Bluehorse Skelton

The Three Sisters of the Northwest

with Judy Bluehorse Skelton

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Arlie Neskahi:
Hidden amidst the volcanoes of the Cascade Mountain Range, favorite berry-picking spots are prized by people in the northwest. For the Confederated Tribes of Warms Springs Indians, huckleberries have been celebrated and picked for thousands of years and are included in the first foods ceremony held every spring along the Columbia River. Today, Judy Bluehorse Skelton, talks about berries and what the tribe is doing to ensure there will be plenty to pick in the future. Read more »

Nico Wind

Carlos Calica

with Nico Wind

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Arlie Neskahi:
The powwow drum has been described as the heartbeat of mother earth. As a drum travels around the country or the world, it starts to take on a spirit of its own, a voice of its own. When a drum is not in use it is covered and stored carefully and respectfully. Some drums are brought out only on special occasions. So it is with this drum. Traditional singer, Carlos Calica is the keeper of this drum; it’s a drum that belonged to his grandfather, a drum Carlos sang on as a child. In today’s Tribal Rhythms, Nico Wind brings you the music of the Warm Springs in a conversation with Carlos Calica, and the Art Mitchell drum. Read more »

Kahneeta Resort

Faye Wahneka

with Rose High Bear

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Arlie Neskahi:
Today, on reservations all over America, people are learning to live with Type II diabetes. What we need in Indian Country are role models representing healthy lifestyles. If we look, we’ll find those role models right in front of us – our elders. Read more »

Pat Courtney Gold.

Pat Courtney Gold

with Bruce Crespin

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Arlie Neskahi:
Wasco people have long been known for fishing and trading in the lower Columbia River region. At one time, Wasco women would dry hundreds of pounds of fish each year, and pulverize them to pack in large woven baskets for storage and trade. Baskets of all kinds were once made by Wascos and other Columbia River tribes. Today, in Artists Circle, Bruce Crespin highlights the rediscovery of Wasco basket making by a superbly skilled tribal artist, Pat Courtney Gold, whose braided path in life is now closely mingled with Wasco basketry traditions. Read more »

Oregon Trail's Barlow Road. Photo by Lori Cannon, 2005. Courtesy TrekEarth.

Darlene Foster

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Darlene Foster:
Both my mother, Matilda Mitchell, and my father, Louis, and my auntie May Joan. They always told stories about how my ancestors knew before the pioneers came that they would come in they would flow in like a river.

Arlie Neskahi:
Before the first pioneers arrived, the Warm Springs people were singing songs foretelling their coming – songs of the great snake that carries people, songs of the metal fire. Today’s turtle island storyteller, Darlene Foster, learned these first contact stories from her mother, who learned them from her grandmother. Read more »