Oral history interview with Frank Amato

Collection

Identifier: SR 2707

Staff Only

Transcript and digitized audio recording of interview

Go to file

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Frank Amato was conducted by Clark Hansen on November 16, 1998, at Amato’s home in Milwaukie, Oregon, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

In this interview, Amato discusses his family background and early life in Portland, Oregon. He speaks extensively about his early interest in fishing, including how he taught himself to fish and the places he fished with his friends. He talks about catch-and-release fishing, and discusses the reasons he started Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine in 1967. He speaks in detail about the history of fish hatcheries in the Columbia River Basin, about the effectiveness of hatcheries as a conservation measure for different species of fish, and about how dams affected fish runs in the basin. He talks about his involvement in the Lower Deschutes Club, which purchased a portion of land along the Deschutes River to preserve the area; shares his thoughts about the Boldt decision, which affirmed Native fishing rights reserved by treaty; and discusses the effectiveness of the Northwest Power Planning Council, now known as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. He closes the interview by talking about the state of sport and commercial fishing at the time of the interview.

Dates

Creation: 1998 November 16

Creator

Amato, Frank (Interviewee, Person)
Hansen, Clark (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Frank William Amato was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1942. He attended the University of Portland, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in European history. After receiving his master's degree in 1965, he taught at Central Catholic High School in Portland for two years. In 1967, he started Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine, the first of mutiple magazines and books on fishing and other outdoor sports published under his imprint, Frank Amato Publishing.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by Amato in his interview; "About STS," Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine website, undated (accessed November 2025), https://www.salmontroutsteelheader.com/pages/about-sts

Historical note

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025), https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (2 hr., 37 sec.) + transcript (48 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Frank Amato, conducted by Clark Hansen on November 16, 1998, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Amato discusses fishing in the Columbia River Basin, the effectiveness of fish hatcheries and other conservation efforts, and publishing fishing magazines and books through his imprint, Frank Amato Publications.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

General

Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

Processing Information

This interview was previously cataloged as part of SR 2700.1, the Center for Columbia River History Oral Histories. SR 2700.1 included oral histories gathered for two separate projects: those conducted by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, and those collected by the Center for Columbia River History for its Columbia Communities Project. In 2024-2025, as part of digitization of the Dissenters interviews, the collection was reprocessed to separate the two sets of interviews for improved access. Each of the 59 Columbia River Dissenters interviews was cataloged individually under the name of the interviewee. The interviews for the Communities project were kept together as a single collection that was redesignated as SRC 1, Columbia Communities Project oral histories.