warm springs immersion website

The Place and the People:

An Exploration into Warm Springs

7th Grade Humanities, Art and Technology

This is presentation was created by the REALMS 7th grade Humanities class to share with you all the cool knowledge we now have about Warm Springs Reservation. As a part of our learning we will be introducing you to the history and culture of the Warm Springs people.

A reservation is a piece of land run by a Native American tribe. Here in Central Oregon the Warm Springs Reservation is run by three tribes – the Warm Springs, the Northern Paiute and the Wasco.

Hundreds of years ago the whole of Oregon was the home of Native Americans (another word for Indians). The three tribes who lived all over Central and Eastern Oregon were the Wasco (Chinook speaking), Northern Paiute and the Sahaptin-speaking tribes, collectively called the Warm Springs.

Warm Springs Reservation

Wasco (Chinook Speaking)

Sahaptin Speaking

Tribes

Northern Paiute

In 1855, about 160 years ago, the white settlers of Oregon forced all the Native Americans that had lived in the Central and Eastern Oregon area on to a small chunk of land that we now call the Warm Springs Reservation. This meant that all the tribes came to live together. There were now three different languages and three different cultures living together on this area. This was very hard as many had left their home land. Can you imagine being forced to leave your home? Going to a strange place where many people spoke a language you didn’t understand? Pretty scary…

For many years the US government forced the Native Americans to learn English and to live the way of the white settlers. They were forced to give up their beliefs and traditions, change the way they ate, dressed and they were not allowed to govern themselves. They were encouraged to farm instead of hunt, and raise cows and chickens instead of fish and gather berries. This was very hard for this culture, as they had lived hunting, fishing and gathering for 1000’s of years.

About 40 years ago the US government stopped forcing English on the Native Americans but unfortunately by that time many of the languages had been lost. Today, some of the elders who still know the native languages are teaching them to the children. Because English is now spoken almost exclusively on the reservations, it is difficult to re-establish the native languages.

Even though the Wasco, Northern Paiute and Warm Springs cultures were almost wiped out by European settlers and the US Government, many cultural traditions are still practiced, even though life on the Reservation is very different than life was when native Americas lived all over Oregon. Every year at the Warm Springs reservation there are

festivals, ceremonies and rituals that keep the culture alive and unique.

One of those traditions is called “twining”. Twining is the way the Native Americans made rope, fishing nets and baskets. 100’s of years ago if a Native American needed something to hunt or fish or make a basket with they had to make it! There were no stores to go buy things from. So they twisted grasses to make strong twine that can be weaved into larger ropes, baskets and nets. Twining is still practiced today to make hand made rope, nets and baskets and is a skill passed down from one generation to another.