Is Celilo Falls still intact? | Oregon Field Guide 

The US (us, that is us,) has many treaties that have been signed that need to be honored.

The sound of the falls fading must have been heartbreaking. The silence afterwards would have been unsettling.

Every time I drive by there I try to imagine the thousands of years and the countless peoples that came and shared in the resources of those bountiful falls. Thought to be one if not the longest perpetually inhabited place in the Americas, we're talking tens of thousands of years of history. I'm happy to hear its relatively preserved there under the surface.

Salmon migrated 900 miles upstream, to Idaho.. Salmon fed tribes all the way upstream.

Very important. Beautifully presented. Is this a new video? If yes, I'd like to contact those responsible for making it.

This makes my heart hurt!

I was raised in The Dalles, that may have been my father's car in the picture of down town. I went to school with many native Americans but was to young to realize what those falls actually meant to these people. It was there culture, history and an unbelievable food source. Very sad story.

I remember seeing these falls in 1952 or 1953 ! I was about 6 or 7 years old .

I absolutely love these peoples passion and love for natural resources..We need more people who care with such love and passion as they do.

I'm trying so hard to be positive, but wow what a tragedy flooding a historical landmark that has been a meeting/fishing/trading place for thousands of years what a shame.

Was a railroad foreman over the tracks seen at beginning showing Celilo Park. A nice lunch spot and used to imagine what the falls were like. A shame the loss of the Salmon runs.

All dams come down eventually.

Just devastating😥

When fusion becomes possible, the dam can be removed, and the river, and the lives that surround it, can begin the process of regenerating...

This was done some years ago - it's a shame that we're only getting some traction on it now. We don't need that dam. We do need our falls. Remove the dam. It's time. Long past. Sonar shows Celilo Falls are intact Published: Nov. 27, 2008, 11:38 p.m. By Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian

Wonderful inspiring documentary. Thank you.

This is so heartbreaking. My heart hurts with you

There's so much to see in Oregon, it's a special land. Thr Rougue, the N&S Umquah River, Crater Lake, the seven unique waterfalls, Colliding River, all masterpieces.

It really depends on what's more important: restoring tribal fishing rights, or being able to take a ship full of cars up to Spokane. For the moment, we know where the priority falls.

Hello my friend and thanks for your time in creating this video 📹

This is heartening for me. I had traveled past the falls when I was 3 years old but I don't remember it. It will probably not be restored during my lifetime but someday I hope that it will. Maybe the salmon runs will return as well.....when all the dams are taken out on the Columbia River System. One can only hope.

Thank you 🙏!

Good job showing there is two sides to every story. Weather it was ALL worth it, only time will tell. I feel mother earth will heal and the fall will return in time. Unfortunately, we may not see it, and then the tears of happiness and gain will replace the tear of sadness and lost. thank you stay safe.

When you go to Celilo, take a canoe and paddle across the river from the campground to the North shore. You will FEEL the river beneath you. It's much stronger in two places. This is the truth. Nothing more.

I wonder if for 2-4 days once every year they could lower the water and let the falls live for a few days and then cover it back up to return shipping and hydro back. It’s sad that so much changed from these dams.

An old mountain man named Grizz (like grizzly bear)told me about pulling salmon from those waters. The pictures always amazed me.

I’m surprised there was a question about whether the ACE had destroyed the falls by blasting around 1956 or ’57 - presumably, either shortly before or shortly after inundation. From the first-hand testimony in this video, we surely know the falls were not destroyed before inundation. Several people say that they constantly heard the roar of the falls, all their lives, until the lake rose, and then there was no noise but the wind. (See, e.g., 6:36-7:32.) That •surely• means that the falls were not destroyed before inundation. What about after inundation? That’s not inconceivable, but if the ACE wanted to destroy the falls, why would they wait until it required underwater demolition - something that’s always more difficult and costly than open-air blasting? Moreover, I recall seeing photos in newspapers (and maybe even tv news footage) in the 1970s, or perhaps the early ’80s, at some point when repairs of some sort on The Dalles Dam required that the reservoir be drawn down considerably. The level of the lake got so low that the upper portions of the falls were visible for the first time in decades. Quite a few vertical feet were exposed. The now-rare sight was a major local-interest story, so it got plenty of press - and, obviously, made it clear that the falls had not been blasted out of existence. So, how come no one remembered that episode, when rumors started popping up that the falls had been destroyed?! I’m certainly glad we have the proof that the falls are still there, albeit submerged. But it’s puzzling that rumors to the contrary got much traction, and persisted for even a little while.

RIP falls you will be missed

I wonder if they could empty the reservoir for one week per year. Paltry recompense, but still

What about the possibility of restoring Celilo Falls?

I was there at this time. My friends Dad had a popcorn wagon for the occasion.

I have hope and a dream to see the Celilo falls return

The army general seems a bit proud for giving crumbs to the natives. Would be nice to restore it. All the people deserve to experience pristine natural resources.

how tragic us white folks broke every treaty we made with the tribes - i am old enough to remember stopping at celilo and being amazed even as a child at the spectacular power,beauty and historical signifience of this special place. the corps has strangled the poor columbia making it just a long serious of slack wate poinds to power video games and microwaves. i will never forget Proxmire's statement that - every spring the corps of engineers become beavers and start searching for a place to put up another dam.

Future progress... maybe it should include removing the infrastructure we built in the past. There are now many better and less impactful ways to meet electricity needs. We live on an average sized suburban block and have all the power we need from some panels on the roof. It's not an impossible to realise the dream of environmental restoration and recovery. Just my thoughts. Thanks for considering.

💔💔💔

Several obsolete dams on the Columbia are supposed to be removed. Fish ladders on the existing ones could help as well

How did Native Americans fish the falls before settlers? All the pictures and videos I’ve seen show processed wood planks and posts. Did they fish from the rocks or build scaffolding from trees?

Things change. We can't keep things like there is only a few people running around

The promise kept was the promise to take native lands.

The Corps of Engineers should put up windmills to make the electricity and take out that dam. It doesn't need to be there anymore, if it ever did. Now that other rivers are getting so low in water it might not work anyway if you wait a few years. Why not start now to find an alternative and give these people back their heritage.

so sad what we have become. how can we all fix it?

@opb let’s see an in depth look at the Snake River damns and their removal and the ever declining Salmon and Steelhead numbers decade after decade.

What a crime!😢

Such beautiful people. Celilo Falls was such an iconic landmark of the Columbia and for Native Americans. Shame the govt. had to put a dam there. I say remove only The Dalles Dam so the falls would come back. We do need the other dams for hydropower (does anyone really want coal or nuclear power instead?) and we need the dams for the safe navigation of ships. No ships mean more diesel trucks on the road and more air pollution. If we could somehow make a new, larger shipping canal for vessels, and remove only The Dalles Dam, it would be an incredible site to see and hear the roar of Celilo Falls again.

Photo shop can do anything

Rip celilo

I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t still be there. Probably pretty filled with sediment, which would clear out fast enough if they were brought back.

what's new.

If people continue to embrace electricity with the confused believe that electricity is a clean option. these falls will never be seen again.

Sad history. I hope one day all dams could be removed to allow nature to reclaim what it needs to. There is no doubt the dam was placed there as an insult and way to control the native peoples. I am not native, but still am called to say a prayer every time I go thru Celilo.

I do hope that in the near future all the dams along the Columbia will be removed and fish can once again repopulate the Columbia River basin.

They learned that from the bears.

My uncle, who worked a power shovel, erroneous called a "steam shovel", spent several years living at Cascade Locks digging up that burial island! He said he would work a few minutes with the machine unearthing remains, then the tribal members would retrieve the remains of their ancestors and then he would work a few minutes more and the retrieval of remains would continue! He did this for a couple of years!

It's time to remove the damn that's clouding up. Cellio falls

Remove the dams and give the river back to the fish and the River People! We can't wait hundreds of years to return things back to the way they should be our climate will not allow the delay

They should remove the dallas dam and see if it's still there. They don't need that damn anymore. Look at the l Wall River. It's changed a lot of things and say took that damn out. Those two damns there at the old wall River up in the Olympic peninsula changes. The only thing that's constant. It's time to take the dalles damn down

Build new nuclear plants and remove the damn.

Do you live on the west coast? Are you watching this on your screen powered by electricity?

My father grew up in old vancover in the early 1930s he knew the falls well. They must realease the falls from its watery grave tear out the dams and bring the salmon back. It was the death knoll of the salmon and the confederated tribes to bury the falls . Release her now!!

the ancient culture there was destroyed deliberately.

its not necessary to understand the history of the fall before showing the scientific results.

If you want the cities you live in, something needed to provide the power to build and power them. Hence the dams.

bruh it's just a waterfall

Yeah, under 200 feet of water

Now, let's take out the Dalles dam.

We're supposed to demo working dams to restore the Celilo Falls? What are the tradeoffs and benefits of do so? Is this really a priority of the tribe vs. everything else?

take Dalles dam out, and replace the energy with small modular reators built by nuscale in Corvallis Oregon, to be made commercial available 2025

The world is always changing and if you don't change with it, then you are left behind, likewise if you go against progression, you will be destroyed.

No doubt the Native American people got the shaft.

The dam will be removed in 2049

Get rid of the Dalles dam it’s bullshit from the beginning I’ve been a citizen of Oregon my whole life I’m 68 years old and it needs to be gone

3:06 The Rock Island dam was built in 1933. It was the first dam on the Columbia River. What other facts are incorrect in this splendid documentary?

Some people remain bitter and it has destroyed their ability to adapt to daily, no less future endeavours. Look at the black people and those in this video as perfect examples. All the payments in the world and still they flounder. And Im a native American

If we had Tesla Technology of green wireless energy. This wouldn't have happend.

What the earth needs is another asteroid to start all over again but with no humans.

Why don't we just build them a new one

lies

I don't understand why we cater to the defeated? World history and the like shows, to the victor goes the spoils.

That is the problem with the computer is it only exists in the computer. what a scam

it's a shame that white people have guilt over this

That's it, keep living in the past.

Oh please. It's a pretty small community. Come talk to the real natives that live here. Ask them what they think about it . This is more pull at your heart make-believe drama.

Poachers...