PORTLAND, Ore. – Two million people, average age 35 with $26,000 per-capita
incomes makes up the Portland market. This is a place that spent more than
$700 million in 2002 on gambling – much of it on video poker. No wonder the
Cowlitz Tribe in Washington and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
have their eyes on the prize and want to build casinos within an hour’s
drive of the major metropolitan area.

Plans for the Cowlitz Casino in La Center, Wash., north of Portland on
Interstate 5, are coming along. Last summer the Cowlitz obtained the
backing of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, a group that earns over $1
billion annually at its huge casino-hotel complex.

Still, control of the 152-acre parcel near La Center on which the casino
would be built remains uncertain. It is up to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
to determine whether the land should be removed from local jurisdiction and
placed under the sovereignty of the Cowlitz Tribe. The Mohegans, though,
say getting this type of trust status for the land is generally not a
problem and they are comfortable moving ahead with the partnership.

Another glitch is that Washington state limits tribes to 425 slot machines
their first year in business. If demand warrants, tribes are ultimately
permitted to negotiate for two casinos each, with 2,000 slot machines
maximum per establishment. Although the Cowlitz has applied to the federal
government for a 425-machine casino, opponents in the La Center area say
the site on the major artery between Portland and Seattle could easily
attract enough business to warrant over 3,500 machines. Thus, detractors
say the Cowlitz Tribe needs to work out a compact with the state of
Washington that has oversight on large gambling operations before it
continues with its plans.

On the Oregon side of the Columbia River border, things are different,
although still contentious. The Warm Springs confederation – composed of
Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute bands – have trust land east of Hood River
on which they can build. The problem is that the location is within the
heart of the world class Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The
site also borders the town of Hood River that is heavily dependent on a
class of tourist for whom the garish lights and heavy traffic associated
with casinos is anathema. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongowski has underscored this
point and indicated that he does not think the Hood River site is
appropriate for a casino.

The Warm Springs want to get along and appreciate the sensitivity of
cultural groups. At the same time, the confederation that struggles with
severe poverty and dissipation on the reservation. Consequently, leaders
feel they have no choice but to capitalize on opportunities.

Thus, the Warm Springs are using rights to the Hood River property as a
bargaining chip. Since last winter, officials have been in discussions with
the state over opening a casino in the town of Cascade Locks on the far
west end of the gorge. While conservationists would prefer not to have a
casino anywhere in the area, the consensus seems to agree that Cascade
Locks is preferable to Hood River. The western end of the gorge is better
for the tribes as well, since the small town is only 40 miles away from
Portland.

State approval of the Warm Springs’ request to build a casino on
non-reservation land could alter state policy regarding off-reservation
casinos. Currently Oregon allows its nine federally recognized tribes to
operate one casino each on reservation land. Some observers worry that
making an exception for the Warm Springs will trigger moves by other tribes
also interested in jockeying closer to urban markets.

The people in Cascade Locks, however, welcome the idea. The town’s economy
has been dried up for years and residents have to drive elsewhere to visit
a physician or dentist. Since last fall, the Warm Springs have been giving
the Port of Cascade Locks a $5,000 per month good faith payment to keep the
property in question off the market until decisions concerning the casino
are reached.

If the plan is approved, the Warm Springs tribe proposes a
500,000-square-foot facility to house a casino, conference center, museum,
hotel and enough parking for almost 4,000 vehicles. Compare that to
Oregon’s largest tribal casino, Spirit Mountain run by the Grand Ronde
tribe, which has 90,000 square feet of casino gaming and earned profits of
$77 million in 2003 on 1,500 slot machines and other games of chance.

Indian casinos throughout the Pacific Northwest generated $1.2 billion in
revenue in fiscal year 2000, according to the Indian Gaming Commission.
That amount was a healthy chunk of $14.5 billion that tribal casinos across
the country brought in cumulatively that same year. For the 1,400 members
of the Cowlitz Tribe and the 4,000 members of the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs, the chance to access this huge market is, in the Portland
Tribune’s words, like “sitting on a jackpot.”

At least it seems like jackpot until history is considered. The Warm
Springs ceded over 10 million acres in the Treaty of 1855 and saw their
fishing and trading mecca, Celilo Falls, flooded in 1957 by one of the
Columbia River’s formidable dams. To their regret the Warm Springs accepted
$4 million for the destruction of Celilo, money that like the once great
falls where the salmon return by the thousands every year is long gone.

On their side of the river up in Washington, the non-treaty tribe of
Cowlitz Indians filed an appeal on Aboriginal lands after World War II. The
Indian Claims Commission determined to pay the tribe $1.5 million for 1.8
million acres. Angered because they knew the timberland alone was worth
$30,000 an acre – not 90 cents – the Cowlitz still accepted the offer as
their best chance to recoup losses and move on.

If the deals on the casinos go through, the Cowlitz and the Warm Springs do
seem poised to collect on a jackpot, albeit one that is considered by some
a tacky one. Tacky or not, a casino that skims the excess off Portland-area
wealth seems like just desserts for the tribes. After a century and a half
of being shoved out of the way, the Cowlitz and Warm Springs finally have a
chance to create the kind of wealth on which they formerly relied. While
casino money will never bring back Celilo or the old growth forests, it
will fund education and social programs that will help tribal members
emerge into the 21st century as full players with remnants, at least, of
their heritage intact.