Spokane Tribal members to be compensated for lands taken to build the Grand Coulee Dam

WELLPINIT, Wash. — A celebration decades in the making took place at the Spokane Reservation on Thursday. 

Tribal members will finally be compensated for the building of the Grand Coulee Dam. 

Senator Maria Cantwell and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers were at the ceremony in Wellpinit. Both were instrumental in getting the legislation passed. 

It provides the Spokane Tribe of Indians equitable compensation for the lands taken by the United States government as part of the Grand Coulee Dam development project in the 30s and 40s. 

During the ceremony, they honored ancestors of the Spokane Tribe whose homes, land and sacred ceremonial sites were flooded.

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