Yesteryears -- March 1, 2019

2014 – Tribal members Bryan Langley and his son, Brayden, launched an Internet business, Umpqua Outdoors, along with Apple-based apps through the iTunes store. They sold the elk call apps, along with elk calling lessons, through webinars and seminars, and website design. The duo had plans for new apps, including one with elk recipes. The name? iEatElk. “I’ve wanted to program for quite a while, a year or so,” said Brayden, who designed the app.

2009 – Tribal member Stephanie Wood was preparing to leave for Washington, D.C., after being accepted to work as an intern at the National Museum of the American Indian, the newest building on the Capitol Mall. “I’m excited,” said Wood. “But I’m calm about it, too. I’m excited, but I’m not worried about anything. I’m ready for the next phase of my life to begin.” Wood was to be working among the photo and paper archives, going through accession records, and categorizing and cataloging them.

2004 – The Tribe’s efforts to widen Grand Ronde Road got a big boost when it was approved for a $500,000 Indian Community Development Block Grant. The road-widening project was to include bike paths and sidewalks on both sides, improving and enlarging the local sewer main, redirecting storm water from ditches back into natural pathways and, if funding was available, improve the intersection at Grand Ronde Road and Highway 18.

1999 – Education in Indian Country took center stage at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians annual winter conference. During the first general session, attention was given to President Clinton’s recommendations for increasing the annual budget for Native American education efforts from $66 million to $77 million. At the time, only 50 percent of Native American students were deemed “partially proficient” in their academic abilities, and the annual dropout rate among students was 10 percent.

1994 – Tribal member Jeremy Haller, son of Janell and Timothy Haller, was selected as one of three youths in the Pacific Northwest to be a member of Earth Kids, a national youth organization dedicated to improving the environment and identifying environmental problems. Haller traveled to Washington, D.C., for an environmental planning session with other youth across the country. They presented their concerns to Vice President Al Gore.

1989 – Multnomah County’s newest river patrol boat was named after Chief Tumulth, one of the signers of the 1855 Willamette Valley Treaty. The christening was done on the shores of the Columbia River by Tribal member and Tumulth descendent Chuck Williams. The boat was the fifth in the fleet to be named after Pacific Northwest Native American leaders.

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