Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
Encyclopedia
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Tribes who currently live on and govern the Warm Springs Indian Reservation
Warm Springs Indian Reservation
The Warm Springs Indian Reservation consists of 1,019.385 sq mi in north central Oregon, in the United States, and is occupied and governed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.-Tribes:...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Tribes
The confederation consists of three tribes of the Pacific NorthwestPacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
:
- The SahaptinSahaptin languageSahaptin , Sħáptənəxw, is a Plateau Penutian language of the Sahaptian branch spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho....
-speaking Warm Springs IndiansWarm Springs (tribe)The Warm Springs tribes are several Sahaptin Native American tribes of northern Oregon. They were also known as the Walla Walla . The Warm Springs tribes are the Upper Deschutes , the Lower Deschutes , the Tenino, and the John Day...
, organized into four bands: Upper and Lower Deschutes (the Tygh and the WyamWYAMWYAM may refer to:* WYAM , a radio station licensed to Hartselle, Alabama, United States* WYAM-LP, a low-power television station licensed to Priceville, Alabama, United States...
), the Tenino, and the John Day (Dock-spus);
- Two bands (The Dalles a.k.a. the Ki-gal-twal-la, and Dog River) of WascoWasco-WishramWasco-Wishram are two closely related Chinook Indian tribes from the Columbia River in Oregon. Today the tribes are part of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in Washington.-History:...
Indians who spoke a dialect of Upper ChinookChinookanChinook refers to several native amercain groups of in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, speaking the Chinookan languages. In the early 19th century, the Chinookan-speaking peoples lived along the lower and middle Columbia River in present-day Oregon and Washington...
- The Northern Paiutes, who speak an offshootNorthern Paiute languageNorthern Paiute is a Western Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, which according to Marianne Mithun had around 500 fluent speakers in 1994. Ethnologue reported the number of speakers in 1999 as 1,631...
of the Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language family related to ShoshoneanShoshone languageShoshoni or Shoshone is a Native American language spoken by the Shoshone people. Principal dialects of Shoshoni include Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming.Shoshoni-speaking Native Americans...
, had a way of life very different from the Warm Springs and Wasco bands.
History
The Confederated Tribes adopted a constitution in 1938, after the construction of Bonneville DamBonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
flooded the major fishing site at Cascades Rapids
Cascades Rapids
The Cascades Rapids were an area of rapids along North America's Columbia River, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. Through a stretch approximately wide, the river dropped about in .-Boat portage:Boat travelers were forced to either portage boats and supplies or pull boats up with...
. Upon receiving a $4 million settlement in compensation for the 1957 flooding of Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington...
by the construction of The Dalles Dam, the Tribes used part of the sum to build the Kah-Nee-Ta
Kah-Nee-Ta
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort and Casino is a resort in central Oregon, United States on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, near the community of Warm Springs in Jefferson County.- History :...
resort, which opened in 1964.
In 2001, members of the Confederated Tribes persuaded the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
to pass a bill mandating that the word squaw
Squaw
Squaw is an English language loan-word, used as a noun or adjective, whose present meaning is an indigenous woman of North America. It is derived from the eastern Algonquian morpheme meaning 'woman' that appears in numerous Algonquian languages variously spelled squa, skwa, esqua, sqeh, skwe, que,...
be changed in numerous place names.
See also
- List of Native American Tribal Entities in Oregon
- Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort and Casino, a resort on the Warm Springs Reservation
- Columbia Gorge casinoColumbia Gorge casinoThe Columbia Gorge casino is a casino proposed by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a group of Indian tribes in the U.S. state of Oregon. They have sought to build a casino in the Columbia River Gorge since at least 1999. Current plans call for a facility with 250 hotel rooms in the city...
, the Confederated Tribes' proposed casino in the Columbia River Gorge
External links
- The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (official website)