For 2½ years, the fatherly Bureau of Indian Affairs had been trying to coax Oregon's Celilo Indians into abandoning their evil-smelling fishing village, perched on the cliffs above the Columbia River, 95 miles east of Portland. If they would move out, the Government promised, new quarters would be provided across the road, with concrete decks where visiting fishermen could pitch their wigwams, honest-to-Manitou houses for the permanent residents, and inside plumbing for all.
The Celilos took a suspicious view of the white man's benevolence. Rheumatic, 86-year-old Chief Tommy Thompson protested that it would be bad medicine to move; others grumbled that...