- [Narrator] There's a mural just off Main Street in Oregon City that's often blocked by truck traffic.

It tells a story that the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde have been sharing for thousands of years.

- [Brian] Welcome to tumwata, today known as Oregon City.

You'll see here a mural depicting how Meadowlark and Coyote created what we know today is the Willamette Falls.

You'll see that Coyote is on one side of the river, Meadowlark is on the other, and they're pulling the rope between them.

- [Bobby] The story is about Meadowlark and Coyote.

(Bobby speaking in Chinook Wawa) - [Narrator] Grand Ronde tribal member, Bobby Mercier, tells the story known as an ikanum, first in a language called Chinook Wawa, then in English.

- [Bobby] A long time ago, they were trying to think of a place where they could create a falls to stop the fish so everybody could eat.

The people there decided that they were gonna make this long cedar rope, and it was full of power.

They gave one side of it to Coyote on that side, and they gave one side to Meadowlark, the little bird on this side, and they said that they were gonna walk.

And when both sides decided where they were going to make those falls, they would drop the rope and it would indent the earth and create the falls.

(water falling) - [Narrator] This mural commemorating the story may be hard to see during rush hour, but it's easy to find.

That's not the case with a much older commemoration of this creation story that's been missing since the 1950s.

It's a large rock with unusual markings carved into it by Indigenous people to honor the story.

- [Briece] There's a flattened end that has scribe marks.

Those are Meadowlark's talons trying to get a grip.

- [Narrator] The tribes believe the rock used to sit next to the river and may have been removed and cast aside during the construction of the locks near the falls in the 1870s.

(gentle music) A businessman in Oregon City named Frank Busch found the carved rock and put it on display where 12th Street meets the river, but then it went missing.

- [Briece] Details vary, but we do know that it's found.

It is put on display, that it then is moved to a different location, and that's where we lose it.

- [Narrator] The Grand Ronde recently purchased land next to Willamette Falls in Oregon City, reclaiming an area their ancestors were forced to leave in the 1800s.

Now the tribes are redeveloping this industrial land.

And they're hoping to find the missing rock with Meadowlark's footprints on it.

- [Jordan] Willamette Falls is such an important place for our people and our culture.

The places that are sacred to us that have been damaged or decimated or destroyed, it's like any little thing that can be done to make that right is healing for our community.

The Meadowlark and Coyote story, it's been a part of who I am and something I think about.

So then when I come in contact with something like that rock where you see Meadowlark's footprint, you know, imprinted into it, it takes you back.

It's like these aren't just stories.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] The tribes are working with community members to find new leads on where the rock might be now.

Though it's been missing for nearly a century, they're still hoping for its return.

- There's a perspective at the tribe.

Everything comes home when it's time.

It will be found.

Will it be my generation?

Maybe.

But there's a certain solace in knowing and accepting that it will find its way.

(gentle music continues) (no audio)