Today I woke up excited because I had a great view of the Upper Columbia River and I there is only two more days to go back home. This morning we had to pack up our things again because we were to move campsites later on the day. Around 8:00am we had the privilege to meet our tour for the day, Lucy Luevaenv. She is a Traditional Culture Preservation Officer that works closely with archeologists. She first took us to the town of Okanogan, but on our way there we stopped on the side of the road and she showed us a great view of the land from the top of a valley. We then proceeded to our destination and after an hour and a half, we arrived at the Omak Stampede stadium. It was great there because there was soft grass and shades compared to our previous campsite from last night. I was disappointed that we did not get a tour of the stadium. But we learned about a hill that leads down the Okanogan River in witch horse raiders raise down a really steep hill. Apparently, the horses that get hurt down the hill from breaking their legs, then they get put down.
After our visit to Okanogan, we went to a museum of Fort Okanogan Museum to learn about the Natives in Colville County. Amanda Hulk was our tour guide for the museum and she was really nice, she let us look at everything and even let us eat our lunch there. To be honest I did not eat my sandwich today because I’m getting tired of them. I just had cookies and some peanuts I had laying around. In the museum, I learned that the Columbia River connects to the Okanogan River and goes to Canada. The museum itself was really interesting because I have never been in a museum before. It was very interesting to see how the Natives Americans lived their lives in the Coleville Reservation. I saw the canoes they used for fishing. I got to feel bear hide without getting eaten by one, so that was a good day for me. It also showed how the industry of fur trading used to be in a reservation. I learned that young women were married off to fur traders for better prices and products towards the tribe.
Next, we visited a larger museum in the town of Coulee Dam that showed how life was before the installation of the dam and how that impacted the local Natives long after. We met Frank Andrews who was in charge of running the museum. In all honesty, I was expecting an informative tour from Frank, but he hardly talked to us. During my time with the Spokane tribe, Warren Seyler showed a video of this issue with the dam. Getting to see that dam up close was really cool, even if we just pass through. In my opinion, the museum demonstrated the might of the Colville river people. The dam itself caused the relocation of many Native Americans that depended on the provisions that the river provided. With those communities gone also came the relocations of cemeteries. This museum also showed more artifacts of the fishing life before the dam, it showed fishing spears, fish traps, nets, fishing arrows. Talking about arrows I was surprised at the majority of different types of arrowheads that Natives used to use in hunting. It is like a modern day gun where there are different guns for different animals and purposes. They had tiny arrowheads from spear like heads, I guess some arrowheads were used for different animals and each had their own damage effects for the different parts of the Animals.
After the museum, we visited The Confederated Tribes of The Colville Reservation a government agency. It was another service center for the Colville reservation that provides aid and other range of resources. It is also where the Archeologist that work in the reservation is located. We met Kevin Donald who is an archeologist who works for the history and archeology department. This man had so much education he went to Oregon state university, he went to Duke University and obtained his BA, Ph.D. and was even a college professor for a decade. From Kevin I learned that they are responsible for protecting archeological sites, they even have a dedicated fire division for these sites. He gave a really good advice about careers that I never thought about. He said to not look for money in a career or how cool it sounds like, but to think about the long run in life and find somewhere where you are not taken for granted and appreciated. At the end of the day, we finally moved campsites to Keller Lake. It is actually really beautiful but a bit crowded. Other than that I got a lakeside view from my tent so I cannot really complain. Being the last campsite that we will be on, Deschutes National Forest is still by far my favorite campsite.
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