THE HOMECOMING

War vet leads grand entry: Steven Reuben, 58, of Kooskia, Idaho, was selected to carry the Eagle Staff to lead the grand entries of the 2002 Tamkaliks Celebration at the Nez Perce Homeland Project at Wallowa. This warrior, wounded and decorated in Vietnam, won in battle the right to wear his war bonnet. His regalia includes his grandfather's eagle feathers given to him when he returned from the war. ().

WALLOWA — Property purchases in recent years are resulting in the first land that the Nez Perce tribe will control here since the 1877 war.

The homecoming of the indigenous people to the Wallowa Valley is history in the making.

The Tamkaliks Celebration grows more meaningful each year as more people get involved. This July was the 12th annual celebration of the Nez Perce's enduring culture in the Wallowas .

In 1998 the celebration gained a permanent home at the Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center, commonly called the Homeland Project. The celebration was renamed Tamkaliks — referring to the nearby traditional Nez Perce campsite at the confluence of the Wallowa and Lostine rivers.

The Homeland site is a downtown office building and 320 acres west of town. It will serve as an interpretive site to tell the story of the Nez Perce people in the Wallowas. It is being developed through grants and private donations in cooperation with the Nez Perce and local communities and agencies.

In 2000, a permanent dance arbor was completed. Here people gather to see relatives and friends again, as their ancestors did during their annual migrations to this area.

The Homeland Project connects a new generation of Nez Perce people, members of local communities, and visitors from around the world to stories of the past and a vision of the future. It is a place to build understanding and friendships that prejudice and time almost erased.

• Meaningful memories

At Tamkaliks, families sometimes conduct give-aways of gifts they've spent the previous year making and acquiring.

A child's naming might prompt a give-away, or it could be a memorial. In 1997, families traveled from North and South Dakota with two vans stuffed with gifts to honor the memory of Bob Eaglestaff, who suffered a fatal heart attack while dancing at Tamkaliks the previous year.

That year, Paul Howard was introduced as the great-great grandson of General O.O. Howard. The general pursued Joseph's band 1,400 miles to Bear Paw, where Joseph's brother Olikut and others were killed.

Symbolic of starting over, Paul Howard requested that his hair be cut by Quinten Bettles of Chiloquin — a descendant of Olikut — with a knife made by Howard. Howard attached his hair to it and presented it to another Olikut descendant — Taz Conner.

At the1999 Tamkaliks, Bettles removed an eagle feather from his regalia and presented it to Howard.

• Honoring elders

Three young men rode horses for two days from the Umatilla Indian reservation.

Fred and Scot Minthorn and Chris Williams, all of Pendleton, wanted to see if they could still do as their ancestors did up through the 1940s.

As far as they know, they are the first to do so since the annual migrations were stopped.

Their ride was dedicated to the memory of Robert Lewis Williams, Chris' grandfather, who died in 1993.

Earlier, the families of two elders honored their wishes to be buried atop Tick Hill overlooking the rest of the homeland project.

M. Jimmy Wilkinson served in Korea. He died at age 69 on July 24, 2000.

Gordon A. Watters of Pendleton died May 27. He was born in 1925 at Spalding, Idaho, and served in the Navy during World War II. Watters helped create the interpretive display at the Wallowa Homeland Project office.

A Vietnam War veteran, Steven Reuben led this year's Tamkaliks grand entries with an eagle staff. He wore a war bonnet. He had won in battle the right to wear it.

The 58-year-old father of five served four years with Special Forces. He said he had not flown treetop level since jumping out of helicopters in Vietnam — until July when David Lundquist of Lostine gave him a ride in an ultralight aircraft.

In appreciation, he called Lundquist onto the dance floor and presented him with an eagle feather that had belonged to Reuben's grandfather.

The disabled Bronze Star recipient said that upon his return from Vietnam his family opened up the old trunk and gave him his grandfather's eagle feather.

"Then I started dancing again," he said. "I dance for the children so that they may learn from what I do, the traditional way of our ancestors."

He dances for fun, too. He joined the children in a musical chairs-like dance for prizes. By the end, Grampa was aced out of a chair by the little ones.

• More youth involved

Young people are taking more interest in the area.

Visiting groups have included 22 Salmon Corps members, ages 18-25. In 1999 they built a trail to the top of Tick Hill, removed noxious weeds and planted native shrubs and trees to make the site look more like it did when Chief Joseph frequented the area.

This year American Indian cultural camps were organized, including a group of 4- to 7-year-olds from Nespelam, Wash.

More than 50 youngsters from the Umatilla reservation stayed in tepees there last week. They learned some traditional ways of their ancestors, including native language, crafts and fishing and huckleberrying on the Imnaha. Some had never seen the Wallowas.

• Joseph's challenge

"Tribal and pioneer families have a shared history in this valley. We can learn from history ... our participation grows more meaningful each year," said Tamkaliks Committee spokesman Brian P. Conner of Pendleton.

Joseph McCormack of Enterprise is president of the executive board of the Interpretive Center. He is a descendant of old Chief Joseph. Jim Chapman is a descendant of a pioneer family who homesteaded in the Wallowas. Chapman retains the family farm in Lostine.

At Tamkaliks, McCormack shared his dream with Chapman of a second arbor so that the feast can be set up separately there. The smaller second arbor could also be a spot where people could visit, shaded from the hot summer sun.

McCormack bought materials and constructed the first of seven sections of the second arbor. He plans to build the rest of the arbor and is challenging businesses, organizations and groups of friends to match his $400 tax-deductible donation to buy materials for each of the six remaining sections.