Celilo Falls

On March 10, 1957 the United States government destroyed Celilo Falls with the opening of The Dalles Dam. Last weekend local tribes commemorated the 50th anniversary of this tragedy.Before the flood, local natives would catch huge amounts of salmon, and there were feasts almost every day. The reason Celilo was flooded was to make a dam that generated hydro electric power. To this day the Native Americans are still mad about what happened to the falls, and look back to the days when fishermen came from all over the west coast and Alaska, Canada, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.