Columbia Gorge Overlook and the Wanapum Indian Tribe

Columbia Gorge Overlook and the Wanapum Indian Tribe

Until recent times, the Wanapum Indians inhabited the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State from Beverly Gap to Pasco, about 75 miles south. The Wanapums were a very religious and peaceful people, living on venison, berries, roots, and fish…expertly caught using nets, spears and woven willow traps. Yet today, the Wanapums are virtually extinct. What happened to the tribe that once numbered in the thousands, and what’s left of their culture?

Don’t mess with park rangers. Seriously.

Don’t mess with park rangers. Seriously.

They’ll kick you out. In the nicest, most passive-aggressive way, they’ll politely ask you to leave. Let me go back and explain what happened. As anyone from Washington State knows, the drive from Seattle to Spokane (or vice-versa) can be riddled with boredom unless you’re playing traffic games with other drivers or looking for something in particular (like totaling up the different crops with names posted on the fence lines

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Easy week in eastern Washington, Part 1: The roads less traveled

Easy week in eastern Washington, Part 1: The roads less traveled

My father, Walt Ebel, and I began our second annual trip to the Colville Indian Reservation on a Monday in early June. Dad’s been doing this for decades; he visits his best friend, Lyn, and they spend a week on Twin Lakes at Hartman’s Log Cabin Resort near Inchelium. Last year I decided to finally accept their invitation and had such a good time I wanted to make it an

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Family reunion in Moses Lake

Okay, not IN Moses Lake exactly, but right on the edge of it. It was our annual Ebel-Fenton-Campbell-Zandofsky (Hankins-Schab-Sherbahn) reunion and we held it at Pier 4 Sunrise Reports, a perfect spot for such an event. After last year’s reunion in Packwood – which many family members couldn’t attend due to distance – I worked with a few cousins to make sure we had it in more of a centrally

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Fishing trip to Ferry County

I’d been looking forward to this trip since I was about 14, I just never knew it until this year. My dad goes on a fishing trip with his friend, Lyn Hartman, to Twin Lakes just about every year. And every year he asks me if I want to go. During the college years, I passed on the opportunity. During the starting-my-career years, I’d be too busy. During the years

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Remembering St. Helens 30 years later

These were my comments printed in the Vancouver Columbian for their 30-year anniversary special on the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. You can read them on the website here: http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/apr/14/lifelong-interest-started-boom/ I’ll be the first to admit that my memory as described below is slightly inaccurate, as I found out from my father after discussing this article with him, however it is still worth posting due to the special occasion. Enjoy!

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