July 11, 2019

Waking up in a secured facility was probably one of the nicest things to wake up to after last night. I woke up a little earlier to take another shower before we headed on the road- yes, I know two showers back to back, pretty crazy. We went through our morning routine plus packing up our things once more since today was our last day in Warm Springs. Once we were done, we waited for the Forestry people to get to our location. Once they got there, we were able to sit down at the same room as yesterday but this time we got to speak about logging.

Claude Smith was the man who was the logging manager. He was able to share with us some interesting math that was so much fun at eight in the morning. After his short and brief explanation, he introduced to Yvette. Yvette was a timber technician. She is a full-time employee and only twenty credits away from obtaining her bachelor’s degree.

During this whole lecturing moment, I learned a few things about trees. For example, I did not know that rotten trees create paper. Once we were done at the building, we left to go out in the field and see what a logging company does.

The first sight that we got to was where we measured the tree to figure out how much money the tree would make the logging company.  The name of the lot was “East Beaver” 2017 22019, log lot #80. The red fir that we measured, was twenty-four inches wide and forty feet long, and that was project to make about $7,840. After a few hours of driving around and seeing some sights, we stopped and were able to get to know Yvette a little more than normal. Yvette shared with us about her lifestyle and her story. She really opened up and shared some wise words with us in the middle of a logging lot.

Once we ate lunch we headed towards the museum. At the museum, we were very fortunate to meet some of the Warm Springs elders. These were the last few Warm Springs people that spoke their Echichkin language. I’ve personally only heard the Sahaptien language, so this was a huge blessing. The elders welcomed us in with some questionable eyes, but I too would be wondering why I have to wait another twenty minutes after I had a four to six-hour meeting. They asked us to introduce ourselves and so we went down the line. After the welcome from one of the people conducting the meeting had introduced us, we asked the elders for some stories of their people. One of them told us that the Warm Springs people had a good couple hundred years where tradition was not passed down. There was one story that an elder spoke about that really had an impact on me. She spoke about how back in the day they were sent to boarding schools where they would learn what the white people wanted them to learn.  She also said she remember that her social worker one day picked her up and instead of taking her to the left of the road, she took her to the right side of the road and eventually drove her to Arkansa for five years. During those five years her family had no idea where she was because she was in the system. After hearing her I got somewhat upset because what she was telling me occurred in the 1900s and in the present, we have young Latinx children that are being ripped away from their parents’ arms.

Another story that resonated with me was one that an elder said about how they (the Warm Springs People) come from the Columbia river, just like the Yakama people but that during the Treaty of 1855. They had to say goodbye to the access of the river when that treaty was signed. He mentioned that they were sending off a group of people who were part of the Warm Springs tribe to go back to the Columbia river after so many years of not going. While this elder spoke, his voice had this honor and pride.

(After the stories about the treaty of 1855, I was curious to read about what had occurred for their tribe and why they were where they are now. So, my little historian heart looked up their treaty to find what was taken, promised, and kept.

When we finished our time at the museum, we drove over to a stand that made fry bread and Indian tacos. This was my very first-time trying fry bread, and I was surprised how close the taste was to a funnel cake. After our little treat, we hit the road and drove down to Bend, Oregon. This drive was so peaceful and amazing. It seems like we will be staying at Deschutes for about five days and six nights.

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Life Lesson:

It is important to keep some of the traditions alive especially those that connect you to your ancestors.