Tribes Involved with the Program
Wanapum

Excerpted from the pamphlet "History and Culture Programs" found at Wanapum Dam Cultural Center. (Wanapum Dam is located on Highway 243 about 8 miles South of Vantage, WA on the East side of the river.)

Three hundred years ago a group of Indian people camped at a village along the Columbia River near the foot of the last rapid in a narrow seven rapid channel. They fished at this spot every fall and stayed throughout the winter in the village they called P'Na. Today, we call this place Priest Rapids, and the great-great grandchildren of those Indian people are called Wanapums.

Their name means "River People." They speak the Wanapum language and are close kin of the Yakama and Nez Perce Indians. They once occupied villages from near Vantage, southward, eighty miles to Pasco. They were peaceful people who subsisted on local game and salmon migrating up the Columbia River. They made yearly sojourns into the Soap Lake and Ephrata area gathering roots, berries, and wild carrots. They found Indian hemp for making fishnets and rope in the Crab Creek area. Toward the end of summer they would follow the Naches River into the high country to pick huckleberries and hunt game.

The Wanapums did not participate in the Indian wars nor did they sign a peace treaty with the U.S. government. They received no title to their lands. They were encouraged time after time to remove themselves to the Yakama Reservation. The Wanapums refused to leave their ancestral home along the Columbia River.

The Hanford Site is located just a few short miles from Priest Rapids and the Wanapums utilized portions of the Site until 1943 when they were removed in order for the U.S. Army to begin their work on producing the atomic bomb. For this reason it is important that the Wanapums be involved in cultural resource matters at the Hanford Site. They have strong cultural ties to the site and they are consulted regularly on cultural resource issues in accordance with DOE-RL policy and relevant legislation.

	Lead root gatherers wearing buckskin dresses and basket hats at the traditional Spring Root Feast held at the Wanapum Longhouse near Priest Rapids Dam. Some of the traditional roots include bitterroot and a variety of other bulb-type roots.
Left to right: Fank Buck, Shirley (Wyena) Jones, Margaret Buck, Nettie Shawaway, Grace Washington, Susie White, Lenora (Buck) Seelatsee,Jeanine (Wyena) Kahlama, Eliza (Buck) Mathias, and Raemona Buck.

Contact:
Ms.Lela Buck
Wanapum
P.O. Box 878
Ephrata, WA 98823
(509) 754-3541 ext 3172