Oregon

Today we’re journeying south from Bend to Klamath. As you all know, we’ve been east of the Cascade Mountain Range since we left Portland for Warm Springs a couple of days ago. During much of the year, the High Desert area is sunny—unlike the Willamette Valley.

• The Cascades are part of the Ring of Fire that circles the Pacific (Ocean) Rim. The “Fire” refers to the volcanoes that periodically blow and spread their lava and ashes for hundreds of miles. The landscape and the tribes who have been here since time immemorial are inseparable—food (fish, animals, berries, roots, water) and cultural traditions for making a life intertwine. Clothing, regalia, baskets, gathering and hunting methods, feasts, celebrations, stories, songs, beliefs, and more reflect the land and the people who are part of it.

• We have two main stops today:
  1. Visiting the Klamath Tribes and learning about their beliefs, traditions, lifeways, history, and more. Place—indigeneity—is critical for understanding the history and culture of those from here.
  2. Visiting Crater Lake/Mt. Mazama. Crater Lake is known as one of Oregon’s 7 Wonders—it is a must-see! And it plays a major role in the Klamath Tribes’ foundation stories.

• Klamath Tribes (with thanks and appreciation to the Klamath Tribes for this material and knowledge):

• • Place affects health—for the people, land, fish, wildlife, and fauna. In the video that follows, you’ll hear from Monica YellowOwl, a prevention specialist for Klamath Tribal Health and Family Services, and other tribal members are working to restore their people’s connection to the land in order to improve their physical and mental health. “We don’t always want to be seen as the traumatized Indians. We want to be seen as resilient Indians, powerful people, connected to our homeland, practicing our traditions and our cultures,” Monica says. Place Matters Oregon is an effort of the Oregon Health Authority to get people talking about how place affects our health—as individuals and as a community.” You’ll also hear about termination in the 1950s, when the US Government terminated 109 Native American tribes and bands; 62 of those 109 were Oregon tribes. MorningOwl explains, “For thousands of years, the Klamath Tribes have had a deep physical and spiritual connection to southern Oregon. But in 1954, the U.S. government took over their tribal lands there. The trauma of losing their land, and the racism and discrimination they confronted in the years after, are at the root of health challenges that still affect tribal members at higher rates than other ethnic and racial groups in Oregon; the Klamath Tribes were restored in 1986.  Please check out this video titled “Native Americans Know How Place Affects Health” to learn more.

• • In 2014, Members of the Klamath Tribes reflect on the 2014 Restoration Celebration and what it means to be a tribal member. Featured speakers are Chloe Say (regalia maker); Henry Rondeau (dancer in regalia); Don Gentry (Klamath Tribes Chairman). This video includes footage and discussion of focuses on dancing, making regalia, and with a reference near the end to Mt. Mazama and place/survival as well as call out to traditions.

• • Foodways: Klamath Tribes and the Annual C’waam Ceremony: “Klamath Tribes continued a ceremony that has existed for centuries along the banks of the Sprague River, welcoming back the C’waam (Lost River Sucker) to its tributaries for spawning season, releasing one adult C’waam and sacrificing another in a campfire. The C’waam has been endangered since 1988, and its population in Upper Klamath Lake is rapidly decreasing.” There are two videos on this topic—both are great and under 5 minutes. Both emphasize the interrelationship of place, people, fish, cultural continuity, and environmental sustainability.

• • The first video features Jeff Mitchell, Klamath Tribal Elder; Don Gentry, Klamath Tribal Chairman; Perry Chocktoot, Director, Culture and Heritage Dept, Klamath Tribes; and Rayson Tupper, Klamath Tribal Elder. They speak about the background of the ceremony, how the fish sacrificed for the people, and the importance of maintaining cultural traditions.

• • The 2nd video, for which the Museum and Natural and Cultural History collaborated with the Klamath Tribes, features Clayton Chocktoot, Chairman of the Elders Committee; Perry Chocktoot, Director, Culture and Heritage Dept.; Don Gentry, Klamath Tribes Chairman. The focus is on the need for the ceremonies, termination, and what happened to the great abundance of C’waam after the 1960s. You’ll get to see a clip of a drum (what the group of men are called who form the circle around the large drum), and some traditional dancing. Click here to view!

• • Baskets are a critical part of life for all Oregon tribes—they are food containers, used to collect fresh berries, preserve dried berries or dried salmon, and in many other ways people use containers. Hats are also effectively upside down baskets for some tribes and use the same weaving method and materials. If you’d like to see some, check out the Klamath basketry collection from the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History Collections with this link!

• After visiting with the Klamath Tribes, we’re off next to Crater Lake/Mt. Mazama.

• • Crater Lake is known as one of Oregon’s 7 Wonders—it is a must-see! And it plays a major role in the Klamath Tribes’ foundation stories. Not all volcanoes are extinct! For some quick background on Crater Lake, check out the National Park Service’s video about the eruption of Mt Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake. The clip is “an excerpt from Crater Lake National Park’s park film, Crater Lake: Into the Deep”

• • Now that you’ve learned how the lake was formed, I recommend you watch this video drive around the rim—this is a little (or a LOT) scary for people like me who have a fear of heights. This video takes you on a drive-through of the area; there is no voice-over for what the videographer describes as “A stunning midnight blue lake encircled by multicolored lava walls is what remains of Mount Mazama, an ancient volcano. Located in south-central Oregon, Mount Mazama erupted around eight thousand years ago and collapsed inward creating a fully enclosed caldera. Crater Lake is silent testimony to a violent past.

• Here are a few photos of my family’s visit to Crater Lake a few years ago—this was at the end of June, and my daughter and a friend had much playing in the snow left over from the previous winter. I’ve also included some photos of the Rogue River (great for rafting and salmon fishing), ranch land in the area with a close up of a coil of barbed wire, the rim road around Crater Lake, view of the lake, our daughter with a snow ball, me and my husband.