Yesteryears - April 1, 2025

2020 – COVID-19 precautions went into effect in Oregon in mid-March of 2020. By April 1, shutdowns had been extended to late April. Spirit Mountain Casino, which had planned to re-open on April 2, extended the closure to April 9, while the Tribal Council prepared for financial effects from the pandemic.

2015 – Legalization of use and possession of small amounts of marijuana went into effect on July 1. To help Tribes, whose lands fall under federal jurisdiction, navigate the situation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Martin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Simmons offered a briefing at Spirit Mountain Casino.

2010 – Spirit Mountain Casino paid the fares for riders of the Grand Ronde Express bus that ran between Salem and Grand Ronde for the month of April in an effort to increase ridership. The service normally cost $3 each way, or $75 for a monthly pass. The program was a combined effort between the Salem Area Mass Transit District and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

2005 – Tribal members split cedar logs to build a traditional plankhouse with lumber donated by the U.S. Forest Service.

2000 – The Tribe partnered with the University of Oregon to offer Chinuk Wawa classes through the University of Oregon’s Northwest Indian Languages Institute. Teacher Tony Johnson, a member of the Chinook Tribe in southwest Washington, said he was working with Head Start to create a children’s language immersion program at the Tribal preschool.

1995 – Construction of Spirit Mountain Casino was picking up as the weather improved. A new underpass to cross Highway 18 was scheduled to start within the month.

1990 — The Tribe purchased two new flatbed trucks to convert for use as fire trucks on reservation lands.

1985 – Roger Harrison won the contest to design a logo for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. “Spirit Mountain has always been a symbol and a historic landmark of the Grand Ronde to me, and the five eagle feathers represent the five major, remaining Tribes: The Calapooia, Rogue River, Umpqua, Chinook and Tillamook,” he wrote in Smoke Signals. “My grandfather, Harry W. Jones, was a full-blood Molel, a band of the Calapooias.”

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