Salmon Festival

Long before fur hunters explored here in 1811, an annual Indian salmon festival was held each July in this area. <br><br> Indian peoples came great distances to trade, celebrate, and arrange intertribal marriages. Cheyenne and Arapaho bands brought elegant tipi poles from Colorado. Crow and Shoshoni buffalo hunters supplied meat and hides from Montana and Wyoming. Nez Perce and Walla Walla horsemen marketed superior stock they had developed, and Paiute weapon and tool makers provided obsidian from central Oregon. All were attracted to this river area for its excellent salmon fishing.