Members of Spokane, Colville, other local tribes canoe trip on Spokane, Columbia rivers

Members of the Spokane, Colville and other local tribes paddle down the Spokane and Columbia rivers to connect with tribal traditions and raise awareness about the struggles of salmon populations

Section:Gallery

Tue., June 15, 2021

Two traditional cedar canoes and a smaller two-person canoe paddle near the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021 on a trip to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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A large group of Native youth stand in a circle at Fort Spokane, a historical site near the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021 and hear about their tribes’ history in the area before setting out in traditional cedar canoes on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. Fort Spokane was a military post founded in 1880, but the compound also had a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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Two traditional cedar canoes and a smaller two-person canoe paddle near the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021 on a trip for tribal members to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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Two traditional cedar canoes and a smaller two-person canoe leave the two rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021 on a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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Devon Peone helps launch one of two traditional cedar canoes Tuesday as they prepare to leave the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia

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Two traditional cedar canoes and a smaller two-person canoe leave the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia

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Shelly Boyd, left, and Tig Phillips attach a flag representing the Colville Tribes, including their own Arrow Lakes tribe, to a traditional cedar canoe on the beach at the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia

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At Fort Spokane, a historical frontier military fort near the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers, Barry Moses, center, who goes by his Native name of Sulustu, explains the history Tuesday, June 15, 2021 on a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880 that was also the site of a frontier school to educate Native kids, a process that was not always voluntary. The presence of such a school reminds him of a similar school in Canada where a mass grave was found where many Native children were buried.

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Shawn Brigman paddles one of the canoes he adapted from a traditional Native canoe design except with modern materials, in the waters off the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021. He joined a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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Shawn Brigman paddles one of the canoes he adapted from a traditional Native canoe design except with modern materials, in the waters off the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021. He joined a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Shawn Brigman paddles one of the canoes he adapted from a traditional Native canoe design except with modern materials, in the waters off the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021. He joined a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

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Two traditional cedar canoes set out from the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021 on a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
A traditional cedar canoe heads up the Columbia River from the Two Rivers area at the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers Tuesday, June 15, 2021. It was a trip by Native youth to learn about their tribes’ history in the area while on a four-hour paddle up the Columbia. They met at nearby Fort Spokane, a military post founded in 1880, but it was also a school to educate Native kids, a process which was not always voluntary.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo