David Sohappy (1925-1991) was a Wanapum fisher and activist for Indigenous fishing rights. In the mid-1960s, Sohappy and his family moved to Cook’s Landing in Skamania County at the mouth of the Little White Salmon River. There, he became a fisher full-time and took only as many fish as needed for his community, in line with traditional Wanapum beliefs and practices. David’s wife Myra (1926-2005) dried, smoked, and canned the fish that he caught. Even before their lifetimes, runs of fish in the Columbia were endangered by the construction of hydroelectric dams and increasing commercial fishing by non-Indigenous fishers.

The Sohappy family had multiple conflicts with the government over Indigenous fishing rights. David and 12 others were arrested by Oregon officials in 1968 for violating state fishing regulations. The next year, a federal judge ruled in their favor. In 1982, David and his son David, Jr. were among 75 people arrested for illegal fishing in a federal sting operation called Salmon Scam. They were sentenced to five years in prison in 1983 and were released in 1988 after pressure from activists and federal officials. After they returned to Cook’s Landing, the Sohappys had to fight for their homes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs viewed the inhabitants of Cook’s Landing as squatters and attempted to evict them. In 1991, the case resolved in favor of the people of Cook’s Landing, but David, Sr. had unfortunately passed away five months earlier as a result of health issues developed during his time in prison.

This image shows Myra and David Sohappy outside the Yakama Tribal Court after Myra was charged with fishing out of season.

Caption information source: “Sohappy, David (1925-1991), by Paul Lindholdt, HistoryLink essay #20725, retrieved from https://www.historylink.org/File/20725.