Its not
a particularly glamorous affair. The day is overcast. The river
bursting with rain.
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Crystal
Conant launches into the Spokane River on April 6 in a traditionally
made Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe. The canoe is 16 feet
long and weighs about 40 pounds.
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Shawn
Brigman shows off different types of paddles made from cedar
wood on April 3. Brigman helped a group of Salish School students,
faculty and parents build a Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe over
spring break.
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Anthony
McKinsey sews the skin of a Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe together
while Julie Simpson, Cache Davis and Grahm Wiley-Camacho watch
on.
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In fact, seen from a certain perspective, its mundane.
A canoe, drifting down the river. Crystal Conant steered the craft,
fighting a bit to keep the vessel moving in the direction of her
will. No different than a thousand other trips taken down the Spokane
River.
But zoom out any amount, even 10 feet, and the scene changes.
On the bank, 12 others watch and cheer Conant along. Most of whom
are Native Americans. They ranged in age from young to old.
Step back again, this time historically. Imagine this area,
Plese Flats on the Spokane River, as it was 150 or 250 years ago.
No cars in the lot. No mountain bikes navigating the trees.
A faster, more vigorous river.
Its all different, seen from that perspective.
Except the canoe.
Because the purple canoe, painted in honor of huckleberries,
was built using traditional Native American techniques.
Over the course of a week, students at the Salish
School of Spokane built the canoe using knowledge passed from
from generation to generation of Native Americans.
The canoe-making process was nearly lost with the destruction
and dispersion of Native American families and culture.
But some few have dedicated themselves to reviving that knowledge.
For those who experience it, the revival feels nothing short of
miraculous.
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Shawn
Brigman works on a Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe on Tuesday.
Brigman helped a group of Salish School of Spokane students,
faculty and parents build a traditional-style canoe over spring
break.
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Devon
Peone, left, Anthony McKinsey, Ryem Abrahamson, Grahm Wiley-Camacho,
Yvonne Abrahamson, Eneas Swimptkin, Annette Matt, and a representative
from the Burke Museum carry a traditionally made canoe to
the banks of the Spokane River, near Plese Flats on April
6.
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That was amazing, said Conant, the woman who steered
the craft on its maiden voyage. It brings back our history
and our ancestors.
Shawn Brigman has dedicated himself to learning and teaching
these skills. He helped the Salish School students, staff and parents
build the canoe. Although some of the materials are modern
such as the skin of canoe which is made of ballistic nylon instead
of western white pine bark the design and overall process
remains more or less untouched.
The canoe, called a Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe, is 16 feet
long and weighs between 35 and 40 pounds.
Brigman learned to make the traditional canoes about six years
ago. Now Brigman, who is a Spokane tribal member, runs his own company
called Interior Plateau Recovery Arts. The sturgeon nose canoe was
traditionally built by northern plateau bands, including the Spokane
Tribe.
The canoe was built during the Salish Schools spring break.
The Burke Museum donated $6,000 to the project, which covered the
material costs and Brigmans time.
Traditional canoe building has had a resurgence in the Spokane
area. Last year, members of the Kalispel Tribe paddled 51 miles
on the Pend Oreille River in traditional-style dugout canoes from
Sandpoint to the tribes powwow grounds in Cusick, Washington.
Members of the Spokane and Coeur dAlene tribes also participated.
The three canoes were among the boats created in 2016 from six
old-growth cedar logs sold to the Upper Columbia United Tribes by
the Quinault Indian Nation in Western Washington. The Upper Columbia
United Tribes the Kootenai, Colville, Coeur dAlene,
Kalispel and Spokane all received cedar logs estimated to
be between 500 to 900 years old.
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Crystal
Conant launches into the Spokane River on April 6 in a traditionally
made Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe. The canoe is 16 feet long
and weighs about 40 pounds.
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Crystal
Conant paddles down the Spokane River on April 6 in a traditionally
made Salishan Sturgeon Nose Canoe. The canoe is 16 feet long
and weighs about 40 pounds.
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Annette Matt helped build those dugout canoes, participated
in the paddle and was involved in building the Salishan Sturgeon
Nose Canoe last week.
Standing under a covered patio last week while the canoe was
being built, Matt had a visceral reaction while recounting her first
time in a dugout canoe.
Oh, its so healing, she said. When you
get into the canoe and realize
She paused. Its giving me the chills right now.
This is what our ancestors did. Its complete connection.
Reviving and animating those traditions is central to the Salish
Schools mission.
The Salish School of Spokane, which opened in 2010, is the only
full-time, off-reservation Native American language immersion school
in the continental U.S.
The all-day school teaches all subjects in Salish, an indigenous
language.
After the maiden voyage at Plese Flats, the canoe will return
to the Salish School of Spokane, where it will serve as a visible
reminder of the kind of recovery and healing work the schools aims
to do. Work that, as evidenced by the canoes melding of old
techniques and new materials, embraces the modern while simultaneously
honoring the ancient.
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A
group of students, parents and staff from the Spokane Salish
school poses with the canoe they built over spring break.
The canoe was built using traditional Native American practices.
The project was funded by the Burke Museum.
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Salish
School of Spokane
The mission of the Salish School of Spokane is to create a vibrant
community of fluent speakers of Interior Salish languages by providing
Salish language instruction to children and by empowering parents
and families to speak Salish in their daily lives.
http://www.salishschoolofspokane.org/home.html
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