Native Mural Dedication

(Created: Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:41 AM PDT)

Donald Allison

About 130 people gathered last Saturday for a heartfelt and moving dedication ceremony for the new Native American mural on the Holladay Drug building.

Diane Collier, Clatsop-Nehalem Tribal Chairwoman, said her tribe has “always” lived from Astoria to Tillamook, and the new mural was a reminder that her tribe still walks these lands.

“There always were Indians here, there are just a lot of visitors who came here and decided to make this their homeland,” Collier said. “And when that happened, some of the Indian people moved and joined other tribes… But some of the people didn't want to move and leave their homeland, so they stayed here, and they've always been here, they've never left. We decided we would let everyone know we are still here.”

Collier said the mural shows the view from the estuary where there was historically an Indian village.

“Notice in the village that all the longhouses are faced toward the water. They faced toward the water with respect,” Collier said. “They lived off of the water… In the middle (of the mural) there is salmon being smoked. There's a condor up in the sky. There is Tillamook Head in the background. This is a typical day when people came together here. This is a good trading area here. People would all come together – the Clatsops and the Nehalems – they would trade. They are getting ready for the winter here.”

Clatsop-Nehalem and Puyallup tribal member Roberta Basch led the ceremony with a prayer, and said in her tradition they give to everybody.

Seaside Native American Project President Tom Horning said the mural shows what Seaside really has always been.

“In all reality, Seaside is 4,000 years old and there's another 39 centuries of Native American occupation that has gone on here throughout the Seaside area,” Horning said. “In 1851, the Treaty of Tansy Point was negotiated and the Clatsop people ceded their ownership of the entire county to the United States in exchange for perpetual fishing rights as you see here illustrated in this mural. Unfortunately, Congress did not ratify that treaty and the Clatsops basically gave away everything they had and didn't really get much in return.”

Horning said the tribes have been working together to bring their cultural histories and values back into the the community.

“They are some of the best people I have ever met,” Horning said. “They have many values and wonderful things to bring back into the mainstream with the rest of us.”