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The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 8, 1933, page 3

INDIANS MOVE BONES TO WASHINGTON SHORE

Mid-Columbia Indians this week will remove the remains of more than 250 of their kin from one of the "Memaloose" islands near the Big Eddy, to a final resting place on the mainland near Wishram village. Thus the Indians now show reverence for their dead that is in keeping with modern ideas and enlightenment.
Unfortunately, white men have not always shown the respect for Indian burial grounds that they should. Relic hunters have disturbed many remains on the island burial grounds near here. Even in Indian cemeteries on the mainland it is not unusual for whites to delve among the graves in search of arrow points, spear heads and other curios.
The same white people would feel outraged, however, if the Indians should invade a cemetery where the bones of local pioneers were interred Reprisals would be swift and sure.
For years Mid-Columbia Indians have disposed of the dead on the "Memaloose" islands that abound in the Columbia river between The Dalles and Cascade Locks. This practice originated centuries ago, probably as a means of protecting the bodies from the depredations of animals.
It was the custom to place bodies on top of the ground, inside of small huts made of saplings and woven willow. Later, after decomposition had removed the flash, the bones were gathered and stored in buckskin sacks. The flood of 1894 washed away most of the skeletons, however, and subsequent freshets have taken a higher toll, so that comparatively few bones remain of the thousands that must have been left there before and after becoming of the white man.
These remains will be gathered carefully this week, placed in neat cedar caskets made by the Indians themselves, and interred on the Washington side of the river, safe forever from the ravages of the elements and curio seekers. For the Indians it will be a rite comparable in significance with the Memorial day observance of the whites. - The Dalles Chronicle.