Yesteryears -- April 15, 2015

2010 – The Grand Ronde Community Resource Center, which runs the local food bank, moved into the Bailey house located near the entrance to Fort Yamhill State Park and the Tribe’s Uyxat Powwow Grounds off Hebo Road. The process of moving took three months, including renovation of the Bailey house. The move was forced by a rickety bridge in the Bunnsville area, as well as foundation and structural problems at the previous facility.

2005 – Gov. Ted Kulongoski approved an off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks for the Warm Springs Tribe. The amended compact raised questions of sovereignty and fairness for the state’s other eight federally recognized Tribes and prompted Grand Ronde leaders to investigate moving within the Tribe’s ceded lands, including the Portland area.

2000 – Spirit Mountain Casino’s Food & Beverage Department served more than 3 million meals in 1999. Approximately 390 people worked in the department and 138 worked in the buffet kitchen. Besides being the largest single account for Pepsi syrup in the state, the Food & Beverage Department purchased more than 4 million cups to serve soft drinks and coffee.

1995 – The Tribe signed an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue its upkeep of Nelson’s Checkermallow plants that were growing in the path of the new casino. Although under no legal obligation, the Tribe transplanted 299 plants to a different location on Tribal property, and most of them survived the winter.

1990 – Tribal Elders enjoyed a trip to the Old Mill Museum in Salem in their new van, which was comfortable and gave an enjoyable ride. After the museum, they went to Bonanza for lunch.

1985 – Because of the Easter holiday, the General Council meeting was moved to April 14. Tribal Historian Barbara Lane of Victoria, British Columbia, was scheduled to speak.

Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year increments through the pages of Smoke Signals.