Wyam

Wyam. "This is the Great Mart". Since time immemorial, the area surrounding Celilo Falls was the hub of a vast American Indian trade network that stretched from California to Alaska, and from the Missouri Plains to the Pacific Ocean. Native people established this trading center, along with a system of well-traveled roads and trails, long before Euro-Americans explored the region. , Some native people call this area Wyam, Sahaptin for the "sound of water upon the rocks." Wyam was a bountiful salmon fishery, and tribes gathered here to fish, trade, socialize, and celebrate. Dried salmon was one of the most popular trade goods. People came from all over the West to trade for it. In exchange, they brought valuable trade objects, such as obsidian from the south; dried buffalo meat, furs, hides, and beargrass from the east; copper and dentalium shells from the north; and wapato, dried clams, and other seashells from the west. , April 16, 1806 , ”those articles they procure from other nations who visit them for the purpose of exchangeing… for their pounded fish of which the prepare great quantities. This is the Great Mart of all This County.” , ~William Clark~ , Early 1800s Trade Goods , Lewis and Clark knew of American Indian trade networks and brought hundreds of items on their journey for use as gifts and for trading. Their store of trade goods included beads, thimbles, ribbons, mirrors, buttons, and many other items.