First Salmon ceremony at Kettle Falls
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Although tribes from throughout the Northwest no longer fish for salmon at now-submerged Kettle Falls on Washington's Columbia River, they honored the spirit of the fish by passing out canned and smoked salmon at the First Salmon Ceremony on June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Shelly Boyd at the “Sharpening Stone,” June 20, 2021, where generations of Native Americans would hone their harpoon and spear points before catching salmon at Kettle Falls. The stone is atop a bluff overlooking where the fishing grounds stood before they were flooded with the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Deep grooves are worn into the “Sharpening Stone.”
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Inside an old Catholic mission, elders teach songs at a drum circle, June 19, 2021. Back when the salmon were still running up Kettle Falls, the sound of dozens of drum circles would have thundered across the plateau.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Colville tribal member Crystal Conant beads necklaces by lantern at Kettle Falls, June 19, 2021. Conant teaches language at the Salish School of Spokane.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Sisters Jenna Cleveland, 15, (left) and Jaylinn Cleveland, 16, bead necklaces during the twilight hours at Kettle Falls. The pair paddled canoes along the Columbia River, ending at Kettle Falls, to participate in a First Salmon Ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers bead necklaces by the glow of a lantern, adding beads representing salmon or paddles to gift to all those who will come to honoring the gift of salmon at the following day’s event.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Ql̓ql̓laqs Finley, 4, and his father Andrew Swa?tqn Finley, were part of the small group who paddled canoes to Kettle Falls on June 19, 2021. The pair live in Inchelium and speak traditional language. For the elder Finley, bringing his son on this journey was a way to teach him about his heritage.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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(Left to right) Jenna Cleveland, 15, Cindy Parra, Dannee Pierre, and Jaylinn Cleveland, 16, bead necklaces by lantern light. All four of the women paddled canoes along the Columbia River, ending at the Kettle Falls site, to participate in a First Salmon Ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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A large group of paddlers stands on the bluff above where their ancestors used to fish at Kettle Falls, receiving a blessing and preparing to put their canoes in for the final leg of the journey for the First Salmon Ceremony, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Dan Nanamkin of Nespelem leads a social song on the bluff above Lake Roosevelt before the paddlers begin the final leg of their journey, June 20, 2021. Tribes from throughout the Northwest gathered at Kettle Falls to honor the salmon as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Annette Peone sings while putting a canoe into the water, and making the final leg of the journey to Kettle Falls.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Barry Moses, known as Sulustu, leads a prayer on the bluff above Lake Roosevelt before the paddlers begin the final leg of their journey.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Dannee Pierre, left, and her partner Cindy Parra, before they begin the final leg of their canoe journey ending at Kettle Falls, where they will participate in a First Salmon Ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Sinnae Bylilly of Inchelium, Wash., 11, dips a bundle of foliage into the water of Roosevelt Lake, as she awaits the arrival of a canoe flotilla that paddled to Kettle Falls.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers in hand-carved boats work together on the final leg of the journey, landing at the Kettle Falls site, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers, including Janene Hampton, known as Karnista, right, work together to pull a canoe ashore after the flotilla arrives at Kettle Falls. Hampton is of the Syilx nation, also known as Okanagan, whose territory spans the Canada-U.S. boundary.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers in hand-carved boats work together on the final leg of the journey to the Kettle Falls site.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers arrive at Kettle Falls to honor the salmon as their ancestors have done for thousands of years, though the salmon swim there no more.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Shelly Boyd, right, clears the path as paddlers pull a canoe ashore at Kettle Falls where they will participate in a First Salmon Ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers work together to pull a canoe ashore.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Colville tribal member Crystal Conant, center, helps carry a canoe from the water during the Salmon Ceremony at Kettle Falls, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Paddlers work together to pull a canoe ashore.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Shelly Boyd, left, receives a feather from Somvang Piengkham, at the First Salmon Ceremony on the shores of Roosevelt Lake in Kettle Falls, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Former chair of the Colville Tribes Michael Marchand speaks during the salmon ceremony. Marchand grew up hearing stories from his grandparents about sharing the fish from Kettle Falls with tribes across the region. He said they worried, after the falls were inundated, that the tribe’s connection to the salmon would disappear.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Colville tribal member Crystal Conant during the First Salmon Ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Crystal Conant holds river stones to click them together and “call the salmon home” during the salmon ceremony.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Tribes from throughout the Northwest gathered at Kettle Falls, June 20, 2021, to honor the salmon as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Sinnae Bylilly of Inchelium, Wash., 11, stands in Roosevelt Lake, as she awaits the arrival of a canoe flotilla that paddled to Kettle Falls.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Although they no longer fish for salmon at Kettle Falls, the spirit of the salmon and tribes gathering was honored by passing out canned and smoked salmon at the First Salmon Ceremony, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
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Shelly Boyd, Colville tribal member, stands in the waters covering historical tribal fishing grounds of Kettle Falls, June 20, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB