Umatilla Indians Compensated for Celilo Flooding

This photograph shows representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation signing a financial compensation agreement for the inundation of Celilo Falls fishing sites by The Dalles Dam. Standing from left to right: Richard H. Betts, Superintendent of the Umatilla Reservation, and J. W. Elliott, former superintendent of the Warm Springs Reservation. Seated from left to right: Maudie Antoine, Umatilla General Council Chairman; Elias J. Quempts, Umatilla Vice Chairman; Louis McFarland, Umatilla Chairman; and Col. Thomas H. Lipscomb, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers District Engineer.

Although discussions between the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Nez Perce, unaffiliated Columbia River Indians, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began over the proposed construction of The Dalles Dam as early as 1945, the Army Corps did not enter into negotiations with the tribes in earnest until Congress failed to allocate construction funds for the dam in 1952. The delay was due to the Army Corps’ failure to make headway in resolving Indian claims to “usual and accustomed” fishing sites at Celilo Falls.