Women Dry Salmon at Celilo Village

This photograph shows Warm Springs tribal members Edna David (left) and Stella McKinley (right) drying salmon at Celilo Village. It was taken by an Oregon State Highway Travel Division photographer in the early to mid-1950s.

Work was traditionally divided by sex and age among the Native societies of the Columbia River Basin. Men hunted and fished, women and children gathered plant foods and prepared the meat and fish. There were many methods by which women prepared salmon. The photograph above shows how the Wyam, a Native group who lived at Celilo Falls, dried their salmon. The fish were cut into strips and spread out with wooden dowels, then hung in dry sheds. Celilo Falls was an ideal spot to dry fish, as the weather is warm and dry, and the winds that often whip through the Gorge help accelerate the drying process.