The Water Remembers

Hola Merfolk!

The Water Remembers by Amy Bowers Cordalis is a book about a Yurok family’s fight to save Klamath River, the salmon, and their way of life.

Cordalis opens with the dynamic beauty of the view from her grandmother’s house on Rek-woi that overlooks the Klamath estuary and mouth and the Pacific Ocean. This is where the Yurok people are stewards of the land.

Creator told her ancestors they would want for nothing as long as they lived in balance with nature and didn’t take more than they needed. During creation, the formless spirit O’-rey-gos wanted to be immortal. O’-rey-gos agreed to take care of the River, its fish, and its people and the Creator turned her into a rock. Today, she sits on the north side of the mouth of the River. She signals to the salmon when to take the journey upriver.

In 2002, Cordalis accepted a summer internship with the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department. It was a chance to move home and learn more about her culture and unbeknownst to her a pivotal moment that would change the trajectory of her life.

She talks about the history of her people and family along the Klamath River. In the 1700s, the Russian traders came by boat, but the Yurok wouldn’t let them set foot on their land. The Russians had bugs crawling in and out of their body hair. In the 1800s, the white Europeans came and took salmon, redwood trees, and gold from the Yurok. More settlers came and murdered many of the Yurok. The federal government sent a treaty that promised peace. The Yurok were made to sign the treaty with a mark called a signature—a concept foreign to them since verbal agreements were enough and a written language didn’t exist. Then the reservation came in 1855 to 1891. In 1892, Congress applied the General Allotment Act  of 1887 to the Yurok Reservation that allowed land to be sold to non-Indians. By the time Cordalis moved home in 2002, 99.72 percent of the land had been stolen by the federal government, timber companies, and squatters.

Cordalis is from a historic Yurok fishing and dance family. The World Renewal Ceremonies were about to happen and bring back traditional dances. Cordalis’ grandma was nervous the dances wouldn’t be done right. Her grandma explained to her why they couldn’t attend. “The dance includes a medicine we can’t see and another type, a mixture of herbs. When it’s combined with fire, song, and dance, it has the power to change the future. No one has done the dance in a long time. The medicine and rituals have to be done perfectly. If done wrong, it can have harmful consequences on nature and people. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

The next day, while Cordalis was working on the River, salmon were gasping for air, diving, then floating belly up. The water wars had changed the River. Dick Cheney had promised the water to the farmers. The water for agriculture taken from the top of the River would mean less water for the salmon in the lower River. The Nation appealed to the federal agencies that the hot water, drought, and large quantities of returning salmon meant a possibility for fish disease.

There are great fishing stories about Amy holding a salmon as she peeled the gill net from it and then getting the fifteen to eighteen pound Chinook into the boat. Then her Uncle Emery Jr. needed to bootleg salmon so he could pay his home electricity bill for the year and then his kids school clothes.

As Cordalis sums it up, the Yurok experienced “the criminalization of culture and the weaponization of law.” Fishing is their God-given right. They ate and sold the fish. Fishing is an integral part of their lives and culture. She had to do something.

While raising her boys, she worked on a law degree. It was a long road to see the dams demolished. It was in her soul to fulfill her duty to Creator. Balance needed to be restored between humans and nature. Before the Iron Gate Dam was breached prayers were said and the Boat Dance was done in ceremonial form as the dancers sang sacred songs in redwood canoes. After much back and forth with the federal government the water flowed. The dancers in the canoes went over the riffle with no incident. It was a sign the dam removal would go well.

Cordalis and her family were able to watch the excavator scoop the red rock and watch the water flow. As the river came over the dam, she realized the water remembered how to flow.

There is still much restoration needed to be done. Checkout the before and after photos of the dams on Klamath Renewal. Visit Amy Bowers Cordalis’ website and watch the touching videos of her life, her family, and what the River means to humanity. And please, read her book and leave a review on Goodreads and where you bought The Water Remembers.

Make Waves!

Oceans of Love,

Melissa Ceseña