UO archaeologists and Klamath Tribal members Marley McVey, Tom Connolly, Amory Bettles, Kaylon McAlister, Chris Ruiz, Julia Knowles, Kevin Wright, Janice Miller.
Sharing the Road to Beatty
Correcting a dangerous curve on Oregon Highway 140 near Beatty, east of Klamath Falls, has been a challenge for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Adjacent to the Sprague River, the curve abuts wetlands and spawning grounds for endangered fish, and carves through an archaeological site that has been home to generations of ancestors to the modern Klamath Tribes.
For more than a decade archaeologists from the UO’s Museum of Natural & Cultural History have been coordinating with ODOT and the Tribes to thread an acceptable roadway redesign through this ecologically and culturally sensitive place. A plan was implemented in 2007 that included archaeological recovery of portions of the cultural site (which progressed in stages from 2007 through 2009), training in archaeological methods for Tribal members, and documentation of the robust oral histories of the area. Construction during the summer and fall of 2010 has been monitored by UO archaeologists and Tribal members; in the fall of 2010 a joint Tribal/UO team again responded to recover and document a discovery exposed during construction.
The site has a record of human presence extending from 8000 or more years ago and continuing into the 20th century. When the Klamath Reservation was formed in 1864, the site served as a homestead for an Indian family as they attempted to balance familiar traditions with new economic and social realities. Annual spring and fall salmon runs at the site was a foundation for major intertribal social gatherings. As dam-building on the Klamath River put an end to salmon runs in the upper Klamath Basin, gatherings continued at the site for gambling, horse racing, rodeo, and ceremonial events in adjacent meadows. The site has become a valuable time capsule on an important part of Klamath Basin and American Indian history. The Tribes’ rich oral history for the site, combined with its antiquity confirmed by the archaeology, combine to provide a palpable link between the modern Tribal community and its deep-rooted heritage.
Coming to recognize the broader cultural and community values represented by this place has required a great deal more patience, more dialogue, and more real resources to document and articulate. But these efforts have been highly rewarded, with a richer documented history, and to the productive working relationships among between state and Tribal governments, and with a great range of constituent communities.
» Learn more from the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History…