Yesteryears -- Sept. 15, 2017

2012 – Bonneville Power Administration, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Nature Conservancy and staff members from the offices of Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined the Grand Ronde Tribe in Junction City to mark the donation to the Tribe of almost 100 acres of prairie habitat and oak savannah at Rattlesnake Butte.

2007 – Illinois Sen. Barack Obama visited Portland and addressed a crowd of approximately 4,000 at the Oregon Convention Center as part of his “Countdown to Change” presidential campaign. Before his address, he met with Tribal representatives, including Tribal Council member Chris Mercier.

2002 – Sheets Construction was in the midst of building the West Valley Veterans Memorial on the Grand Ronde campus. Construction of the memorial was the culmination of years of planning and fundraising by veterans and community members.

1997 – Salem Mayor Mike Swaim issued a Human Rights proclamation that apologized for discrimination and racial injustice that has historically occurred in Oregon’s capital. Swaim also apologized to the Native American students who attended Chemawa Boarding School who were stripped of their culture and language and made to abandon their cultural identity and spirituality.

1992 – Ed Larsen, owner of the Spirit Mountain Store in Grand Ronde, was featured in a monthly column that profiled Tribal members who have started their own business. He and his wife, Shirley, purchased the store about seven years earlier by taking out a second mortgage on their home.

1987 – With Congress reconvening on Sept. 10, Tribal Council Chairman Mark Mercier was encouraging Tribal members to write letters of support for the proposed 15,665-acre Reservation. Letters were to be sent to U.S. Reps. Les AuCoin and Peter DeFazio and Sens. Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood.

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