Soon to be introduced in congress, under sponsoring of the U.S. department of interior, will be a bill designating 41.4 acres of land at Celilo falls as an Indian reservation. The sole purpose of this move, it was explained yesterday by T. Leland Brown, who participated in drafting of the bill, is to retain for the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and affiliated Columbia river Indians, the exclusive fishing rights originally granted to them in a treaty from the U.S. government.
The Celilo Indians previously owned 7.4 acres of land and they have purchased from the Seufert Brothers company an additional 34 acres of land, Brown explained. The Yakama tribe recently sent a delegation to Washington, D. C., to consult with the department of the interior in the matter of sponsoring the necessary legislation.
If a reservation is created at Celilo, Brown said, it would be possible to keep out migrant Indians who have been making annual visits to the falls during the salmon runs, although they have no treaty rights.
One of the first moves, if a reservation is established at Celilo, will be to tear down the old shacks and erect a modern village south of the railroad track, Brown predicted. A home cannery also would be installed, where the Indians could can their fish, instead of being compelled to dry them under unsanitary conditions or take them to the Warm Springs cannery, it was said.
From Astoria have come reports that the creation of a Celilo reservation will be opposed by the lower river commercial fishermen, on the grounds that the state would have no jurisdiction over this territory, and it would be impossible to impose conservation measures.
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