Yakama Nation Hatchery Expansion Groundbreaking Ceremony at Ancient Fishing Site Topxatuxt

by Andrea Tulee and Jill-Marie Gavin

TOPXATUXT (PROSSER, WASH.) On October 3, 2025, Yakama Nation Fisheries hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a hatchery expansion next to the Yakima River at a site that has been used by tribal fishers since time immemorial.

The expansion of the facility, near the town of Prosser, Washington, is a joint venture between Yakama Nation, Bureau of Reclamation, and contributing donors. The groundbreaking celebrated the start of construction for major capital improvements for fall chinook salmon production and formally rename the Prosser Hatchery to Topxatuxt (/TOP-tut/) Hatchery.

The project will have benefits far beyond the Yakima Basin, with the fish produced here supporting tribal and non-tribal fisheries all the way to Alaska. CRITFC Executive Director Aja DeCoteau pointed out that it is more than that, though. “This project supports tribal conservation goals of restoring populations throughout the Yakima River Basin—bringing the fish home, where they belong.”

Restoring A Rightful Name

While the event was a celebration of the shared commitment to help restore healthy salmon runs to the region, at its heart was the restoration of the site’s original place name. “Restoring the name back to Topxatuxt honors the history of this location and the deep tribal connection to it,” said Caseymac Wallahee, Yakama Nation Tribal Council.

Topxatuxt is about 46 miles upstream of the mouth of the Yakima River. The site encompasses the river’s mainstem, Prosser Falls, and its surrounding boulders and shores. According to Čáw Pawá Láakni – They Are Not Forgotten: Sahaptian Place Names Atlas of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla, by anthropologist Eugene Hunn, Topxatuxt translates to “long hair in front, short hair on the sides” referring to a style of headdress that the falls resembled.

Topxatuxt was renowned for the natural features that made it a prized location for fishing. One prominent fishing perch was known as Coyote’s Special Place—a flat rock that sloped gently downstream and offered a comfortable seat amid the boulders with views of the river. According to elders, the largest fish could be caught here without the danger posed by deep, swift waters like those at Celilo Falls.

The site also has its own Coyote story to explain some of its features. According to a Yakama legend, a powerful woman obstructed the site with a number of pestle-shaped boulders. The trickster Coyote, seeking to ensure the people could fish in peace, defeated her and turned her into a large stone that stood in the middle of the river above the falls along with her boulders that he scattered.

A Century of Disruption

Modern development at the falls started in 1887 with the construction of a flour mill, followed by an irrigation canal in 1893. In 1907, a power plant was added, and then Prosser Dam was built in 1914 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Yakima Irrigation Project. In 1917, the Kennewick Irrigation District assumed control of the land, and the site became a central hub for federal irrigation and energy infrastructure, including the Chandler Power Canal and Pumping Plant.

These and other developments in the Yakama Basin devastated salmon runs—especially chinook, steelhead, coho, and Pacific lamprey. According to Yakama Nation Fisheries, summer chinook was extirpated in the river in 1970, and the fall chinook was only maintained by hatchery production at Prosser.

A Commitment to Restoration

The Yakama Nation began stocking out-of-basin, hatchery-reared juvenile fall chinook into the Yakima River in the early 1980s. By 1997, their efforts had already started to pay off, with sufficient returns to allow using local production of fall chinook as their broodstock.

“This facility started out as just three earthen ponds used to acclimate chinook salmon smolts that had been reared at distant hatcheries,” explained former Yakama Nation Fisheries Manager and current CRITFC Fisheries Science Manager Donella Miller. “Over those 30 years, it has transformed into a full-fledged hatchery facility.”

Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project Manager Joe Blodgett has been involved with the Prosser Hatchery since its construction in 1994. In his words at the groundbreaking, he spoke about the evolution of the facility and its growing role in fish conservation and reintroduction efforts. “Originally developed for fall chinook acclimation, the hatchery has since expanded its mission to include the rearing of summer and fall chinook, coho, lamprey, and sturgeon. Fish are brought from the Columbia River for acclimation and release, supporting reintroduction efforts for coho and other species that once thrived in the area.”

These growing efforts brought the Yakama Nation to the point of needing more capacity and improvements at the hatchery. After nearly 18 years of effort, construction on the expansion was officially begun at the day’s groundbreaking to do just that.

Back in 2008, the initial cost estimate for the project was $4.4 million. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) budgeted this amount in the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords. Over the subsequent 18 years, however, inflation and other factors increased the project’s cost. The additional costs were provided by BPA, Yakama Nation, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

The facility will undergo major updates including replacing four rearing raceways with twelve 20-foot diameter circular tanks. The release raceway will also be replaced with one that mimics rapids and waves to prepare fish for life in the wild. “By spring, the new raceways will begin receiving fish,” noted Blodgett. “And by June, we expect to release another round into the river.”

The improvements will also protect the water resources of the area. Thanks to a new filtration system, water waste system, and chillers, the hatchery will allow for up to 70 percent water reuse, primarily from wells. These upgrades will significantly improve efficiency, fish health, and water conservation—critical in an era of rising river temperatures and more frequent droughts.

These innovations will allow the Yakama Nation to rear the same number of fish with a lower water footprint, while improving fish fitness and increasing their survival rates as they migrate to the ocean.

Honoring a Legacy of Resistance

While the main purpose of the celebration was the hatchery expansion and name restoration, Yakama leaders took the opportunity to also honor a name known across Columbia River tribal communities: George Meninick. The first George Meninick, son of treaty-signer Meninock, was a fierce advocate for tribal fishing rights at Topxatuxt. His great-grandson, who also bears his name, is a current Yakama Nation Tribal Council member and spoke at the event.

The elder George Meninick, born in 1840 and known by his tribal name Skeinnpam (he would later receive his father’s name Meninock), was a member of the Skiin-Pa Band. In 1915, George’s close friend Alec Towessnute was charged in Benton County Superior Court for fishing with a gaff hook within one mile of the newly built Prosser Dam. Though the charges were initially dismissed by Judge Bert Linn—who recognized tribal fishing rights as a “preserve” shielded from state interference—the Washington State Supreme Court reinstated the charges in 1916.

In protest, 77-year-old George Meninick deliberately returned to fish at Topxatuxt, fully aware he would be arrested. In 1917, he defended his actions in court, drawing on his direct experience at the 1855 Treaty Council in Walla Walla, which he had attended at just 15 years old.

In court, George Meninick delivered a powerful statement:

“Top-tut where we are arrested for fishing, is one of those old fishing places where the Indians were fishing when Governor Stevens gave the solemn promise which our people accepted as the pledge of the government. And we say that when your officers punished us for taking fish at the places reserved you violate your Treaty and your promise, and while you may punish us because you [are] the power, yet before God whose justice is more than that of men, we are innocent of having done wrong.”

Read his entire court statement here.

George Meninick’s court appearance sparked a slow shift in public and legal awareness. His defense helped catalyze changes to the state’s use of “conservation concerns” as justification for restricting off-reservation fishing—restrictions that lasted until 1957. Ultimately, Judge Belloni’s 1969 decision in Sohappy v. Smith further constrained such state actions.

In 2014, Washington passed a law enabling Native American defendants tried before 1975 to have their convictions overturned if they were exercising treaty-reserved fishing rights. Family members of deceased individuals could also file appeals on their behalf.

In 2015, Superior Court Judge Carrie Runge vacated George Meninick’s (Skeinnpam) conviction. In July of that year, the Washington State Supreme Court similarly cleared Alec Towessnute’s name, following an appeal brought by Yakama attorney Jack Fiander. The Court stated:

“We cannot forget our own history, and we cannot change it. We can, however, forge a new path forward, committing to justice as we do so.”

A Memory and a Guide

The groundbreaking ceremony at Topxatuxt was more than a celebration of the start of construction. It highlighted the Yakama Nation’s enduring sovereignty, deep ancestral connection to the area, and commitment to restoring salmon to healthy and abundant numbers throughout their entire territory.

“Tribal elders tell of the abundant spring and fall chinook, coho, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey that were harvested here at Topxatuxt,” DeCoteau closed in her remarks. “Let us move forward together with that as our memory, but also our guide—restoring what was taken, rebuilding what was lost, and ensuring that future generations will know the abundance our ancestors once knew here.”