Antone Minthorn recalled the day, 30 years ago, when he met the wagon train at the east boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

It was Aug. 12, 1993, and the Oregon Trail Sesquicentennial Wagon Train was on its way to Oregon City, its final destination after a 2,000-mile trek from Independence, Missouri. The event marked 150 years since the trail opened in 1843, sparking a massive westward migration that changed the course of American history.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) had hoped to use the sesquicentennial to draw attention to the need for an interpretive center that told the story of the Oregon Trail through a Native American lens. Despite years of lobbying, however, federal funds were still scarce. So, Minthorn and several other tribe members decided to take bolder action.

“We went up, a group of us, and we prepared horses — got them ready and put on regalia and went to meet the wagon train as it came over,” Minthorn said.

The group stopped the wagon train, then Minthorn made an impassioned speech in front of the members of the wagon train and a gathered crowd that included local media. The speech drew good publicity to their cause, and was “eventually helpful with funding,” according to Minthorn.

Dave Tovey, the tribe’s economic planner at the time, remembered the speech and the warm welcome the tribe subsequently gave to its visitors. The tribe fed everyone in attendance, then performed a traditional ceremony with dancing and drumming.

“I’m so proud of my tribe for being that respectful of people that have been our allies and helped us,” Tovey said.

It was a key moment in the years-long effort to secure funding for what is now known as the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, a 45,000-square-foot museum and research center east of Pendleton dedicated to the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes. The facility opened in 1998 and celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2023.

But plans for the institute had actually begun to formulate years before the interception of the wagon train. Steve Corey, a prominent Pendleton lawyer who now serves as President of the Tamástslikt Trust Board, first suggested the idea in the late 1980s.

In the summer of 1990, Tovey and CTUIR caretaker John Chess brought the idea to Oregon Community Foundation. They presented their idea for a master plan to then-president Greg Chaillé and Kathleen Cornett, Vice President of Grants and Programs.

“We sat down with them and said, ‘Well, we can only do this if the story is ours and we have control and we’re owners of it,’” Tovey said.

“At that time, OCF was much smaller,” said Cornett, who retired from OCF in 2019 but still volunteers for the foundation. “Our grantmaking was two to three million a year. Our discretionary grant money was very precious.”

Still, Chaillé and Cornett were impressed by the audacious vision that Tovey and Chess possessed, and agreed to provide a $10,000 discretionary grant “for a master plan to develop an interpretive center which will be located on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.”

Chess, a talented and prolific grant writer, pursued many other public and private funding sources. By 1994, public support for the project had increased, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced a $6.5 million loan guarantee that allowed the tribes to begin construction.

It was a momentous victory years in the making, and Tovey recalled the emotions he felt when the institute held its opening ceremony for the tribal community in July of 1998.

“It just kind of hit me,” he said, recalling the assistance that tribal elders had provided throughout the planning process. “The realization that we did this with their help, in part to make sure their words can live on. It hit me hard, suddenly realizing these people who are so important to us and wanted this as much or more than I did, are no longer with us.”

Bobbie Conner, who grew up on the Umatilla Reservation, has been Tamástslikt’s director since 1998.

“It’s the national museum of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples, and is a monument to our survival as well as a milestone of its own, telling a contemporary story of our resilience and cultural resurgence,” she said.

Tamástslikt’s three major galleries — We Were, We Are and We Will Be — reflect the tribes’ desire to share their rich history while also focusing on their place in the present day and their aspirations for the future. The institute also houses a vast array of tribal artifacts, conducts and publishes research and hosts community events.

Plans are underway to mark Tamástslikt’s 25th anniversary later this year, Conner said. The Seasonal Round exhibit, which combines audio, artifacts and historical images to immerse visitors in a powerful sensory experience of tribal life, is being updated and expanded. It will include new information on how the Oregon Trail’s opening in the mid-19th century led to bloodshed and disease on CTUIR lands. The story of Native American cultural assault in the 1950s will also be further developed, Conner said.

A member of OCF’s Board of Directors, Conner credits the foundation for its sustained financial assistance throughout the years.

“The tribes haven’t stopped making history, and OCF has been a partner all along,” she said. “We weren’t sitting still in traffic — we were moving and becoming an even stronger economic engine for our region.”

Minthorn, who has amassed a long list of accomplishments as a tribal leader over the years, also views Tamástslikt’s first 25 years as a stepping stone to greater prosperity for the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples.

“With more understanding of what the history is of the tribes and the U.S. government, that impact is still evolving,” he said. “It’s not over yet. We’re restoring that and we’re utilizing our treaty rights.”