land acknowledgement by elder Ed Edmo

“Kalapuya lived by the great falls, what is now Oregon city, the Willamette falls. Atfalati band lived around Tualatin plains. Mary’s River band lived around Corvallis. Santiam band lived around the two branches of the Santiam river. Kalapuya proper lived by present day Eugene. Sauvie’s island was called “Wapato island”. That’s where the Multnomah lived. Women were chiefs. Blind people made arrow points. When the settlers arrived in the 1830’s, a series of epidemics introduced by white traders and trappers ravaged the valley, many tribes and bands were nearly wiped out. 

Thank you for including tribal people, who still live in this area, we still praying, raise strong children, work and celebrate here. Many contribute to our cultural ways, sit on boards, confer on issues which help citizens of the tri-county, state of Oregon. 

Celilo is the oldest inhabited settlement in the continental United States, we have been on N’Che Wana “Columbia River” for twenty thousand years. Around seventy thousand Native Americans live here in the Portland area. That’s three hundred and eighty plus different tribes in the greater metro area. And this is from a book called Coyote Was Going There: Indian Literature of the Oregon Country, Jerod Ramsey University of Washington Press 1977.” 

Ed Edmo, Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, Yakama 

Native American Consultant, Actor, Tour Guide, Poet, and Traditional Storyteller

To connect with Ed or to learn more about his offerings, visit https://ededmo.tripod.com/.