The Kah-Nee-Ta Resort on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon closed last weekend. Its closing was marked by sentimental goodbyes from the many people who used to visit and work in the remote location.
Several thousand people attended the closing ceremonies and remembrances. The resort included a campground, teepees, horses and a hotel, all set amidst the high desert.
Delson Suppah Sr., a tribal elder of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, used to spend many weekend nights tell legends of his people to the tourists or just chatting under the shade of a tree.
He blames the tribal leadership for failing to preserve the identity of the place, or to find outside investment to keep it open. “They can call it blame. I don’t call it blame, it’s fact,” he told the Oregonian.
The tribe issued a press release by Tribal Councilor Carina Miller who said that the resort had been unprofitable for a long time and saying it would have been a waste to spend more money on it. The resort’s history included a hotel and a casino that opened and then closed.
The final weekend coincided with a horse parade with riders in traditional tribal costumes and a salmon dinner, with the fish cooked on sticks over flames.
The reservation has been battered by the closing of a lumber mill, and the resulting loss of jobs. Another 146 jobs were lost with the closing of the resort. About 100 of them who had been living on the property will also have to find new homes.
The last weekend was a flurry of activity since many who knew the place was closing had moved to new pastures, leaving a lot of work to be done by those who stayed to the bitter end.
One of them, 18-year-old Ellise David, who worked at the resort’s front desk for four years, reflected: “For me it’s the people here, not the actual place,” and added, “I’m into agriculture. So I like cows, plows and sows a lot.”
